ISSUE 21 March 2018

Celebrating The UWI's 70th Cave Hill Wins Global Award Sugarcane Energy Research ISSUE 21 : MARCH 2018 Contents

Discourse 42 Cave Hill Blackbirds Enter A PUBLICATION OF Uncharted Waters 1 Catalysing Innovation THE UNIVERSITY OF THE , 44 Gusts of Goodwill Unleashed CAVE HILL CAMPUS, . after Hurricanes News 2 Using Artificial Intelligence to Partnership Combat Health Challenges We welcome your comments and feedback which 46 Robotics Camp Captures can be directed to [email protected] 4 Agri-business Park Rolled Out Youth Interest or CHILL c/o Office of Public Information 7 Cave Hill Celebrates The UWI The UWI, Cave Hill Campus, BB11000 8 Freshers Benefit from Research Barbados. Fundraising Race Tel: (246) 417-4076/77 48 Fuel Research Sparks New 10 Major Progress on Global Hope for Sugarcane Industry Agenda 51 Why Female-led Firms EDITOR: 13 Medical Training for Ghanaians Underperform Chelston Lovell 15 CARICOM Marijuana Commission 52 Indigenous Flora Submits Report among Endangered Species CONSULTANT EDITOR: 16 SERU to Focus on Student 54 One in Three will Fail or Quit Ann St. Hill Success

17 Deepening Ties with Japan PHOTO EDITORS: Student-Centred Rasheeta Dorant 19 Global Award for Cave Hill 56 Living a Dream Brian Elcock 20 Embracing Cuba with Love ...... 58 Creating a Welcoming CONTRIBUTORS: 22 German Exhibition on Energy Environment for Students Koelle Boyce Efficiency with Disabilities Marsha Boyce 24 Strengthening Cuban 60 Finns Keep Coming Krystal Penny Bowen Connections Professor Emerita Bridget Brereton 62 Law Student Argues Benefits 25 Medic on a Mission of Judicial Internships Rennette M. Dimmott Rasheeta Dorant 64 Russell Nicholson on Life in Franchero Ellis Awards Barbados Margaret Harris 28 Zachary Phillips – Double Veronica Jones Valedictorian Publications April A. S. Louis 29 Cave Hill Captures Cross- 66 Coping with Campus Life Nevin Roach Campus Awards WILLCOMM 67 Philip Nanton’s Frontiers of ...... 30 Recognising Scholarly the Caribbean Achievement PHOTOGRAPHY: 32 Rewarding Excellence People Brian Elcock 34 Shavonne DeMendonça Hanban Captures the PULSE of Service 70 A Lasting Tribute to Sir PHOTACC Excellence George Sandy Pitt UWICAPD Wave Element Photography Sport In Focus WILLCOMM 36 UWI Launches Faculty of Sport 72 Livity Project Receives EU XQUIZIT Grant 38 New Sport Faculty Adopts Team Focus 72 Student Research Flourishes PAGE LAYOUT: Paul Gibbs 41 Mona Retains Inter-Campus Title COVER DESIGN: Mark Headley ......

Printed in Barbados. © 2018 DISCOURSE Catalysing Innovation imilar to reaching a significant milestone on the higher Slandscape, the arrival of a new academic year or tertiary cycle often ushers in a wave of optimism; the kind that offers renewed hope to education planners who are aiming to meet the needs of countless aspirants and to address the region’s developmental challenges.

(l-r) Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong presents the Confucius Institute of the Year award to Professor Eudine Barriteau, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Cave Hill Campus on 12th December, 2017 in Xi'an, China.

he current academic year, Smart Campus initiative which and our capture in December of coinciding with the start of we have shared increasingly with the prestigious global Confucius TThe University of the West internal and external stakeholders Institute of the Year Award amply Indies Strategic Plan 2017-2022 during the past year, we have: illustrate our transition towards and the 2018 year-long celebrations pursued greater self-reliance greater innovation and a burnished, to mark The UWI’s 70th anniversary, through revenue-earning and burgeoning global profile. has heralded opportunities for cost-saving strategies; leveraged We keenly anticipate our catalysing innovation in higher technology to improve education new education imperatives to education in unprecedented and other services delivery, as well spur us towards even greater dimensions. That five-year plan as to enhance governance; and accomplishment. Last December, has at its core the goals of Access, expanded the internationalisation the campus’s Finance and General Alignment and Agility, a triple “A” of our programmatic and other Purposes Committee approved strategy which offers not simply offerings. the establishment of the Cave Hill a platform for revolutionising the In spite of the campus’s severe, Office of Research and Innovation tertiary education system, but also well-ventilated and documented (CHORI), one objective of which is transforming Caribbean societies to financial challenges, we have to improve the quality, quantity and meet the requirements of the 21st energised our human resources to impact of our research, innovation century. advance the university’s enduring and publication. We expect this Adhering to the triple “A” mission to foster innovation that new office to help drive output institutional pursuits, Cave Hill would positively transform this and add lustre to the Cave Hill has embarked on what is perhaps region. The imminent activation brand. We remain hopeful, also, its first major policy reorientation of our multimillion-dollar, agri- that stakeholders and benefactors since its establishment in 1963, the business development park, our will continue to take notice of our reconceptualisation of the campus’s intensified global engagement efforts and lend further support to strategic development. Encouraged led by a determination to export our initiatives. t by the evolving framework of our our flagship medical programme,

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The Cave Hill team includes (l-r) Dr. Curtis Gittens, Dr. Mechelle Gittens, Nicholas Hoyte, Prof. Ian Hambleton, Christina Howitt Using Artificial Intelligence to Combat Health Challenges

multidisciplinary group of experts, drawn from computer science, statistics, and Apublic health, are developing an artificial intelligence-powered (AI) system to predict human behaviour in those predisposed to diabetes. This system has the potential to revolutionise the world’s approach to health behaviour change. The cognitive AI simulation and virtual counsellor system (Driven) seeks to identify the root causes of were 90 teams in North America, between the US patient decision making and behaviour, and is under and Canada, and over half of those teams have been development by the group led by computer scientist, eliminated. When you consider the fact that we were Dr. Curtis Gittens, a lecturer in the Faculty of Science considered strong enough to enter Round 2, given the and Technology at Cave Hill. sheer number of teams from developed countries, it says something about the work that we’re doing. For Having entered the highly competitive, internationally us to get into Round 3, we are focusing on getting the acclaimed $5 million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE competition full system running and proving our technology,” Dr. last year, the local experts secured the approval of a Gittens said. global panel of judges to move onto Round 2. The IBM Watson AI XPRIZE challenges teams to It is the only team from Latin America and the develop powerful AI applications, demonstrating how Caribbean to advance, and is going up against groups humans can collaborate with AI technologies to tackle from Canada, United States, Italy, United Kingdom, the world’s greatest challenges. The focus this time India, Vietnam, China, Australia, Norway, France, around is on Health & Wellness, Learning & Human Poland, Germany and Israel. Potential, Civil Society, Space & New Frontiers, Shelter & Infrastructure, and Energy & Resources. “Considering the number and quality of the teams that are in the competition, we are pleased with the fact Dr. Gittens said that preliminary feedback from one of that we get to move on to Round 2. In Round 1, the the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE liaisons indicated that they entire Latin American and Caribbean region was only stand a good chance of making it to Round 3 once the represented by us and a team from Ecuador. There system is constructed and proven.

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Only 59 teams from 14 countries have we can make a significant change in advanced from the initial 148 teams that the way NCDs are treated. The XPRIZE entered the challenge which concludes in Foundation has a huge network of people 2020. you’re exposed to through mentorship, workshops and conferences. You get to meet The system being developed by the national a global community of leading thinkers in team consists of cognitive architecture, an the area and you get the opportunity to agent-based model and simulation system, a share your ideas with them. Being able to virtual counsellor and a data analytics engine. have a significant impact on how chronic non-communicable diseases are treated is The team believes that identification of the nothing to sneeze at. It’s something that Brendon Duncan root causes of unhealthy behaviours would will be a significant benefit even if we don’t allow health professionals to develop highly- make it to the finals,” Dr. Gittens explained. personalised behavioural interventions, hopefully reducing an individual's risk of The inroads by these academics coincide developing a major chronic disease by with Cave Hill’s transformation to a addressing the key inhibitors and facilitators to Smart Campus, an initiative that combines healthy lifestyle change and adherence. innovation in facilities design and They explain that Driven is different from management, curriculum reform and the current AI technologies because it probes the continuous enhancement of its learning reasons behind these types of psychosocial environment and administrative processes. behaviours, and in doing so, would provide Catherine Brown “It seems to be a convergence of events,” public health interventionists with a valuable Dr. Gittens noted. “It’s a good time to be lifestyle management tool that provides insight doing this, especially with the Smart Campus into the persistence of people eating a poor initiative. If we continue to be successful in diet. the competition we believe it would inspire “What we want to do is create a students to strive to take their positon psychologically realistic, virtual version of a on the global stage and be recognised for person. We capture what the person likes, excellence in work and research. It will their emotional profile, what foods they eat, also show that we don’t have to look to where they live and their social and physical North America and Europe for leadership in environment to create a virtual world with technology and innovation.” that virtual person in it. The goal is to run Dr. Selvi Jeyaseelan The AI project is the result of research a number of simulations using scenarios in conducted by Dr. Gittens and his wife, Dr. which they are faced with food choices; for Mechelle Gittens, in the fields of AI and example, going to Christmas dinner or birthday mobile health respectively, combined with parties or just going out to dinner, and identify the research expertise of the Data Group in the triggers that will lead them to choose the the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research food that they shouldn’t be eating.” Centre.

The World Health Organisation has said that The other members of team Driven are: non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were Catherine Brown, Qualitative Data Analyst; responsible for 39.5 million or 70 percent of Dr. Peter Chami, Machine Learning Specialist; global deaths in 2015, with cardiovascular Brendon Duncan, Mobile Application diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung Dr. Natasha Developer; Professor Ian Hambleton, Sobers-Grannum diseases being the main contributors. Diabetes, Biostatistician (Predictive Analytics); in particular, accounted for 1.6 million of those Christina Howitt, Data Scientist; Nicholas deaths. Hoyte, Software Developer (AI Perception); Absent is Dr. Selvi Jeyaseelan, Research Methodologist/ Dr. Peter Chami “We are in the competition to win, but we recognise that, if we build the system and Research Manager; and Dr. Natasha Sobers- apply it to our situation in the Caribbean, Grannum, Primary Care Physician/Clinical Epidemiologist. t

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A multimillion-dollar agricultural and agroprocessing project that is likely to transform the landscape of rural Barbados, provide economic stimulus to the island and wider Caribbean, and revolutionise regional agribusiness, is earmarked to get underway in the first quarter of 2018. Agri-business Park ROLLED OUT

he UWI-Dukes Agri-business Security and Entrepreneurship will provide a training hub for Development Park will (CFSE) which has successfully people in the entire CARICOM Tutilise 28.5 acres of land at implemented and received high area. In addition to the types of Dukes Plantation in the parish of St. commendation for: its Sail Cargo activities that will take place, we Thomas gifted, in 2012, to Cave Hill Project, designed to facilitate intra- anticipate a tremendous amount Campus by benefactors, Charles and Caribbean maritime trade; and the of investment to come into Vanessa Edghill. Black Belly Sheep Leather Project, Barbados because it will be the a high-value, joint enterprise centre for agrIbusiness activity in The first phase of construction is utilising Italian designers and other the region.” planned for this year, with US$34 expertise. million in funding being provided under a bilateral aid programme CFSE Director Professor Leonard between the Government of O’Garro, an internationally Barbados and the Government of recognised Caribbean scientist and the People's Republic of China. a 2012 recipient of the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards While a large portion of land for Excellence in Science and will be allocated for farming, Technology, is excited about the a multipurpose park is on the opportunities and implications of cards to house facilities for the project. He noted that several agroprocessing, meat curing, significant agribusiness enterprises Professor Leonard O’Garro chocolate manufacturing and will be domiciled there. Director, Centre for Food Security and training, and cotton processing. It Entrepreneurship will also feature a food standards “… every enterprise located there laboratory, a sewage treatment will be associated with a training O’Garro said the project will also plant, recreational spaces, a 500- programme, either vocational or complement Barbados’s tourism seat conference room, retail shops for accreditation,” said the native product, by providing sources of and restaurants. Vincentian during the unveiling of attraction, recreation, leisure and the plans to the media last October. Oversight of the project is the remit education for visitors. “When it’s up and running, it of Cave Hill’s Centre for Food Continued on page 6

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The Barbados Blackbelly Sheep Leather Project is one of the major CFSE initiatives designed to impact the viability of agriculture and leverage research and development with the goal of moving agri-business further along the value chain.

The ongoing project held in partnership with Island Leathers Inc. forged global connections with a world class Italian leather manufacturing company to produce a sample of blackbelly sheep leather goods.

Patrons examining the blackbelly sheep leather products on display at agrofest.

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NEWS

(l-r) Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Maxine McClean greeting Charles Edghill, while Principal Eudine Barriteau (second left) and Vanessa Edghill look on.

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He explained: “It will be possible for state-of-the-art facility would be will be a site where the taxis will visitors to spend their entire day environmentally friendly and could bring tourists to spend a day; they there, for a fee. They will be able to generate at least 1,000 jobs when can observe things; and there will take part in educational activities, completed. be development spilling over to such as spinning cotton, making the neighbouring communities … chocolates and so forth. They will so we do see great employment “The UWI Cave Hill Campus, which also be able to prepare meals and opportunities in addition to training is already a major, multifaceted get in touch with Barbadian culture and research. contributor to the economic life of under the teaching of well-qualified this country, is about to make its “The first phase will be chefs in an environment conducive economic presence felt in an even construction of the conference to such activity. The project will be more significant way. This mega- facilities, the restaurant, the designed so that all the enterprises community of agribusiness activity training facilities, the labs, and can grow and become regional will not only offer a diverse range the sewage treatment plant. We entities. In addition, all of the of employment opportunities, but have to prepare for what Town systems are already there for they will position Barbados to become and Country [Development Planning to become global as well. All of the a regional hub for entrepreneurial Office]has given us approval issues with respect to regulations, development, educational training for. What will be happening quotas and so forth have been and cutting-edge agribusiness simultaneously, however, is that built into the projects that we will research in a 21st century, we will be developing curriculum. execute from there.” expansive, multifaceted complex,” For example, for the chocolate Having secured approval from the she said. academy, we have received a grant Town and Country Development from the Caribbean Development “When this is up and running and Planning Office, Cave Hill Campus Bank to develop a Master’s [degree] we get beyond the construction has embarked on sensitising in Chocolatiering which is a highly phase, we can look at employment residents in nearby communities specialised skill,” the Principal from 1,000 to 1,500 persons. This ahead of the pending construction. added. t is a massive project and there are Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor many phases that have to be rolled Professor Eudine Barriteau said the out. When this is completed, it

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we draw from in terms of our student base,” said Chair of the Cave Hill Celebrates Campus Planning Committee, Dr. Henderson Carter. The UWI Another highlight is the Gala Dinner, branded “Luminaries Gala: Year-long celebrations Dining with the Stars”, which will marking the 70th be held on campus on 28th April, National Heroes Day, and featuring anniversary of The cultural icons Stedson “Red Plastic University of the West Bag” Wiltshire and Anthony “Gabby” Indies are in full swing at Carter, among other luminaries. Cave Hill. A $70 fundraising drive will also be launched in April to assist needy students, while an unveiling ceremony will be held in October to honour 70 outstanding Cave Hill graduates.

The activities can be tracked on a 70th anniversary App developed by Cave Hill Science and Technology student, Theo Taylor, who created the App for the UWI Games hosted by Cave Hill in 2017. This was done under the supervision of Head Monsignor Harcourt Blackett (inset) addresses the congregation which included (from left) of the Department of Computer UWI Vice-Chancellor Sir ; Chairman of Cave Hill Campus Council, Sir Paul Science, Mathematics & Physics, Dr. Altman; lecturer, Dr. Kenneth Connell and UWI Pro Vice-Chancellor Alan Cobley. Janak Sodha.

The UWI started in Mona, Held under the theme “70 years of medicine; and the way forward, in 1948 as a College of the service, 70 years of leadership”, post-independence. University of London, going on the observance started on 28th “We have had programmes for to achieve full university status January with an interfaith service the community before but this is in 1962. In 1961, the Imperial of thanksgiving at the St. Patrick’s now an engagement at a personal College of Tropical Agriculture in Roman Catholic Cathedral that level, a community level. We are Trinidad was converted into the St. was attended by members of engaging communities to help Augustine Campus, and in 1963, the administrative, technical and them grow; we are engaging OECS a third campus was established support staff, teaching staff, territories as well, territories that at Cave Hill, Barbados. In 2009, students, friends and well-wishers. The UWI Open Campus, a virtual One of the highlights of the campus with over 40 physical sites celebration is a special community across the region, was launched. outreach, Community Talk, The University of the West Indies in which academics will hold now has a presence in 18 Caribbean discussions across Barbados and territories and is spreading in neighbouring islands on a range its influence across various of topics, including: legalising continents.t marijuana; disaster preparedness; (l-r) Tanesiha Brown and Dr. Donley th natural medicine vs traditional Carrington at the 70 anniversary service

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Freshers Benefit from Fundraising Race

Moving to tertiary education he First Year from the secondary level Experience (FYE) programme, a can present acute challenges T developmental project, for students as they utilises peer-to-peer adapt to a new learning relationships whereby level environment. University 2 and level 3 students serve leaders are constantly as mentors to “freshers” to help them navigate any seeking to address this issue challenges they encounter during with innovative strategies, the adjustment period. one of which has gained Last year, this peer mentorship major corporate and public programme benefited support through a new, significantly from the RBC Race fundraising initiative. for the Kids, a global charity run, which raised Bds$63,000 from its inaugural staging in 2017. The FYE programme received Bds$21,000 from the funds raised, with the remaining portion allocated for six scholarships valued at Bds$7,000 each.

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Under the FYE programme, facilitators and take responsibility students received advice and for an entire FYE group, paving the support from 12 committed way for the induction of new peer peer mentors, guided by senior mentors. representatives of the campus’s With such positive impacts, Office of Student Services. Aside The UWI Cave Hill Campus and from helping new students access Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) are on-campus services and solve anticipating that thousands will problems about the academic lend their feet to this worthy process, the peer mentors cause again this year when the facilitated aspects of the FYE 5k run/walk is staged on 11th curriculum, particularly those March. Organisers are aiming related to academic and study to more than double last year’s skills. 1,300 participants, and raise They staged awareness campaigns more than Bds$100,000. centred on addressing a range of Internationally, the RBC Race wellness or social justice concerns, for the Kids attracts more than including those related to diabetes, 121,000 participants and obesity and the differently abled. has raised more than In addition, the group plans to CAD$27 million, with races undertake a leadership project to being held in Australia, help students consider and identify Canada, Hong Kong, problems affecting disadvantaged Luxembourg, Malaysia, and vulnerable groups in their Trinidad & Tobago, the community. United Kingdom and the United States. t It is anticipated that some of the FYE peer mentors will graduate to become full-fledged FYE

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Major Progress on Global Agenda

Across the Americas and Europe, into Africa and (l-r) President of the University of Miami Asia, Cave Hill’s international journey picked up pace Julio Frenk greets Principal Eudine Barriteau, while senior university officials in 2017, expanding the university’s global influence look on. and connections.

ursuing a quest to create greater global awareness Pof the Cave Hill brand, university officials: successfully advanced the campus’s reputation across Latin America through continued promotion of its English as a Second Language Programme (teaching of English to non-English- speaking citizens); consolidated its presence in Europe with higher student enrolment; and made significant progress in furthering its international reputation by ratifying a number of agreements with Asian and African agencies. number of students from Africa in Cave Hill’s crowning international the near future. A September mission achievement came at the end of The UWI established Memoranda to Ghana, specifically, cemented the year when its campus-based of Understanding (MOUs) with the an agreement for Cave Hill to offer Confucius Institute (CI) was University of Johannesburg and the medical education to students from bestowed the prestigious global University of Ghana to facilitate that country; the inaugural cohort Confucius Institute of the Year student exchange programmes and is expected to start training at the Award. Throughout the year, international enrolment at Cave campus in academic year 2019. the campus had undertaken a Hill, a likely boon to increasing the wide range of activities to assist Barbados in understanding and engaging the Chinese society. It also hosted the inaugural Caribbean-China International Law Moot Court Competition and the signing of two MOUs: one paving the way for the establishment of a joint Caribbean-China Legal Research Centre at The UWI, Cave Hill; and the other between The UWI Press and the China University of Political Science and Vice Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg Professor Ihron Law (CUPL) Press. Rensburg signs the visitors’ book during a courtesy call to Principal Eudine Barriteau.

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Under the press agreement, select conduct of business between China “Similarly, the MOU establishing a UWI Press titles will be translated and the Caribbean. joint legal research centre at the into Chinese for purposes of “A key requirement to conducting Cave Hill Campus … will bolster publication, titles would be business between these eastern legal understanding of each other’s marketed in China and the and western cultures is a mutual jurisdiction. This MOU is a first Caribbean for the Chinese diaspora understanding of each other’s in the Caribbean and will enable population, and select CUPL Press legal systems. In this regard, Chinese and Caribbean scholars titles will be translated into English functional cooperation between and students to work together to for purposes of publication. the UWI Press and the CUPL Press enhance their knowledge of the will make legal and other critical law in one another’s jurisdiction. information available, not only to Given the importance of law to, academics and legal practitioners, inter alia, well-regulated trade, but persons seeking business and the centre has the potential to other opportunities in China. The provide Caribbean-China relations MOU between the two university with an entirely new platform presses is aimed at promoting for cooperation and mutual the translation and publication understanding.” of their works. Implementation of the MOU should significantly Continued on page 12 enhance knowledge of China in the Caribbean, and of the Caribbean in China, through the publication (l-r) Justice Winston Anderson and translation of important texts. of the Caribbean Court of Justice In particular, considerable gaps in and Chief Justice of Barbados, the knowledge of Chinese law in Sir Marston Gibson, attending the Caribbean and Caribbean law in the International Law Moot China will be addressed through this Court Competition which had ground-breaking cooperation. full support from the judicial fraternity. The Chinese team claimed the top prize while Cave Law students Mohsin Nana and Britney X. Hill gained The Spirit of the Elliot-Williams Caribbean-China Moot Award as well as titles for Best Memorialist and Best Oralist.

Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Eudine Barriteau remarked that as business, academic and other opportunities open up in China to people of this region, the MOUs will greatly facilitate intercultural understanding and communication as well as the transnational YANG Peiru (standing) presents during the moot competition. Looking on are (l-r) her coach Professor ZHU Lijiang, School of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), and moot partner CAI Jiahong, as well as Cave Hill team members Moshin Nana and Britney X. Elliot-Williams along with their coach, Dean, Faculty of Law, Dr. David Berry.

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In July, officials from the Ministry of Education and other Barbadian educational institutions pursued discussions with Chinese counterparts and officials from Hanban, the China Scholarship Council, China University of Political Science and Law, and the Beijing Normal University. The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), the region’s major examining body, also enlisted support from the Confucius Institute to create a curriculum for the teaching and examination of Chinese in the Commonwealth Caribbean. t

(l-r) Professor LI Juqian, Deputy Dean, School of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) and Dean, UWI, Cave Hill Faculty of Law, Dr. David Berry hold winning tropies and the plaque which will carry an inscription of the winners.

cores of high school students from Panama have been learning English in Cave Hill’s language and cultural Simmersion English as a Second Language (ESL) Programme which is attracting hundreds from South American countries. Here, an ecstatic second cohort celebrates shortly before returning home last June. A third cohort arrives 17th March for the four-month ESL Programme with a special focus on Tourism and Business.

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The internationally endorsed flagship Principal of Cave Hill Campus Professor Eudine Barriteau (second left), medical programme at The University Dean Dr. Peter Adams (fourth left) and Dr. Kenneth Connell (third right) of the West Indies, Cave Hill could with Ghanaian representatives at a fair trade. soon be enrolling Ghanaian students, Dr. Connell, a former FMS deputy dean, was in an initiative aimed at expanding accompanied by Dean, Dr. Peter Adams, on the three- the campus’s academic offerings member team led by Campus Principal, Professor Eudine Barriteau. Both doctors have thrown their worldwide. full support behind the agreement to provide medical teaching to Ghanaians, and predict that closer collaboration between the universities will bring mutual benefit. Cave Hill delegation visited Ghana on 26th – 29th September seeking to establish academic “The visit to Ghana revealed the potential of the higher Apartnerships with stakeholders in that country’s education market in West Africa. I am expecting very health and higher education sectors. Among their positive outcomes,” Professor Barriteau said. activities, university representatives held discussions “There is tremendous scope for academic collaboration with officials from the Ministry of Health and University between The UWI Cave Hill Campus and the University of Ghana’s Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical of Ghana, in particular, including the enrolment of Research. significant numbers of African students in the pre- Chair of Cave Hill’s Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS) clinical phase of our medical programme. The training Task Force for International Outreach, Dr. Kenneth of Ghanaian doctors is among a wide range of strategic Connell, says an articulation agreement between the collaborations which we hope to pursue under a two universities could be finalised by early 2018, paving renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the way for an inaugural student intake in August 2019. that university,” she added.

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The University of Ghana shares a number of similarities with The UWI. Both were founded in 1948 as external colleges and became self-governing institutions in the early 1960s. There are also medical research similarities between University of Ghana’s Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and Cave Hill’s George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre.

“Both centres research diseases relevant to their populations so that the health of the respective populations can be improved,” Dr. Adams explained. “In Ghana, most of the research is on infectious diseases, in particular malaria, while we concentrate on chronic non- communicable diseases.”

In addition to student enrolment and research collaborations, discussion focused on the exchange of elective students and external examiners, and also adjunct appointments.

Dean Adams said his counterpart at the University of Ghana’s School of Nursing also expressed interest in Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ebenezer obtaining elective placements for nurses in Barbados Oduro Owusu (left) and Principal of Cave Hill Professor V. Eudine and assessors for academic promotion, staff exchanges Barriteau exchange gifts. and adjunct appointments with The UWI.

The University of Ghana has an enrolment of approximately 800 students in its six-year medical Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor programme and is facing significant increase in Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, will visit Barbados next year to demand. Within this context, the University of initial its renewal. Ghana and that country’s Minister of Health have welcomed Cave Hill’s offer to train future generations The Cave Hill delegation’s visit was part of a trade of Ghanaian medical doctors, under a split-site mission by Republic Bank Barbados, an affiliate of transnational programme similar to that currently the Republic Bank in Ghana, known as HFC Bank. The in existence between University of Ghana and Gulf latter has already expressed a willingness to develop University, Bahrain. a student financial loan product to assist Ghanaian students wishing to study in the Caribbean. t A four-year MOU between Cave Hill and the University of Ghana culminates in March 2018 and Vice-

l

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NEWS

The (CARICOM) Regional Marijuana Commission, established to investigate the issue of marijuana use in the region, has submitted a status report. CARICOM Marijuana Commission Submits Report

he -based CARICOM and looked to the commission’s Secretariat which announced report to provide those answers”. Tthe submission of this Some states in the region have report, said that the ten-member already initiated action on the commission, chaired by Professor issue; and in those states where Rosemarie Belle-Antoine of the decisions have already been taken University of the West Indies, St. to engage in law reform, the call Augustine Campus, is expected for more public education and a to present its findings and more coherent regional approach recommendations to the CARICOM was made. summit to be held in Jamaica in July. The commission, comprising experts It said that the commission had in the scientific, medical, legal and undertaken consultations in Antigua Professor Rosemarie Belle-Antoine and Barbuda, Barbados, , The Continued on page 16 Bahamas, Guyana, , St. economic, social, religious and Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the legal … and there [are] many Grenadines and over the commonalities in the discourse …” past two years. The consultations in These include “… vital information were cancelled because of and strong opinions about the passage of Hurricane Maria in marijuana and its use, including September last year. strong lobbying for use for medical According to the status report, reasons from a group of persons marijuana has emerged as an issue living with disabilities and in of social significance across the wheelchairs…” the report stated. region. It also noted “just as many persons “It embraces several complex had important questions, wanted dimensions, including the scientific, more information and education

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social science fields, as well as a representative, each from the religious community and youth, were required by regional leaders to “conduct a rigorous enquiry into the social, economic, health and legal issues surrounding marijuana use in the Caribbean The SERU team (l-r )Andrea and to determine whether there Marshall, Althea Greene- should be a change in the current SERU to Focus Forde, Patricia Atherley, drug classification of marijuana, Shavonne Demendonça thereby making the drug more on Student Success and Paula Jarvis accessible for all types of usage (religious, recreational, medical ith the adoption of a reception in February for and research)”. more student-centred international students, providing The commission was also W approach at The them with the opportunity to mix required to recommend the legal University of the West Indies, a and mingle with members of the and administrative conditions Student Enrolment and Retention wider campus community. to be applied, should there be Unit (SERU) has been formed at With over 130 non-regional Cave Hill with an aim to ensure reclassification. It has been students registered for this a more positive, holistic student reviewing information and academic year, including North experience. secondary data pertaining to Americans and Europeans, they marijuana laws/legislation Established at the beginning of the were also exposed to a taste of 2017-2018 academic year, SERU Barbadian culture. regulating its use and operates as a first-stop hub for classification, findings related During the activity at the 3Ws information, guidance and referral to research conducted on Pavilion, three of the students - for students, and manages the Steven Hodgson of Canada, Arttu the medical/medicinal use of international programme, including marijuana, the economic and social Perrello of Finland and Kevin the Student Exchange Programme Heinevetter of Germany - gave brief impact and its implications for the and the Study Abroad Programme. insight into their decision to choose region. To aid its efforts, the unit Cave Hill for their study-abroad The CARICOM Secretariat said coordinated an Open Day last experience. t information gathering is ongoing, November, exposing prospective and towards this end, data is being students, parents and guardians to collected from adolescents and campus offerings, operations and youth and the public. Researchers facilities, as well as information on and other interested individuals financing options and study-abroad are invited to submit written opportunities. material on marijuana for use in A featured attraction was a concert its work.t by the celebrated and talented, 2MileHill, whose lead singer, Mahalia Cummins is a Cave Hill alumna. Building on the success of that event, SERU held a welcome

Open Day 2017 – This SERU-led initiative invited prospective students and parents on campus for an opportunity to interact with staff members and UWI alumni.

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The year 2017 could prove to be a watershed for Cave Hill relations with Japan as the campus seeks to consolidate and expand its influence in Asia.

Deepening Ties with Japan

he past year has seen the strengthening of the Trelationship and bonds of friendship between the campus and Japanese institutions. In particular, three initiatives were staged in the latter half of the year that not only built on the groundwork laid in previous years, but also offer a far- reaching, positive impact on the Caribbean region, its youth and the environment. Campus Principal Professor Eudine Barriteau visited Japan on 10th-17th June where she met Anime enthusiasts listen to anime expert and associate professor at the Digital Hollywood University in Japan, Mitsutera Takahashi (Inset). with government and academic officials as well as students, and set in motion several collaborative an audience of mainly students the need to think outside the box activities that followed. to the popular Japanese artform by exploring and accessing such With support from Japan’s and informed of the numerous non-traditional opportunities Association for the Promotion job opportunities available in the rather than becoming stymied in an of International Cooperation multibillion-dollar industry, once oversaturated job market. and the Embassy of Japan in they tapped into their creativity. An island nation that shares some Barbados, Cave Hill hosted a Anime is a style of Japanese film common geographic features lecture about the highly lucrative and television animation that and climate-related threats anime industry, an environmental targets both children and adults. with the Caribbean, Japan offers seminar, and staged a workshop Japan currently has around 600 opportunities for joint collaboration on the dreaded sargassum animation production companies in to remedy coastal challenges and seaweed that threatens to the steadily growing industry that other mutual dangers. undermine tourism-dependent generates in the region of US$16 Caribbean economies. In this regard, the two-day billion annually. discussion on the sargassum In September, associate professor With this being an unexploited area seaweed proved informative and at the Digital Hollywood University in the Caribbean, the campus has insightful for visiting Professor in Japan and anime expert, been keen on showing students Anne McDonald of Japan and Mitsuteru Takahashi, introduced Continued on page 18

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other members of the Japanese delegation. It also enabled UWI experts to provide an update on their research on the brown algae, while other qualified people spoke of their work and the impact of the seaweed. “We live in an interconnected world and things in one part of the world can impact on others … Clearly, if we have global Dr. Adrian Cashman Professor. Julia Horrocks and regional problems like this Director of CERMES Marine Ecologist (seaweed deposits), it means that we need global and regional Environmental Challenges of been coming from a new source - partnerships to tackle them,” said Climate Change and Biodiversity the Equatorial region. Director of the Centre for Resource Loss”. She shared insights from “International partnerships will Management and Environmental her experience in Japan, focusing clearly be critical in helping Studies (CERMES), Dr. Adrian on biocultural and climate change to move forward in terms of Cashman. related policies for small-scale and these causes and consequences, artisanal fisheries and agriculture. Professor McDonald, a lecturer particularly with prediction at the Graduate School of Sargassum expert Professor Hazel science, with risk assessment and, Environment Studies, Sophia Oxenford pointed to the ecological certainly, with management and University, Japan, delivered on and socio-economic disasters that mitigating impacts and developing the topic, “Lessons from the states, like Barbados, have had to opportunities, product development Field: Exploring Culturally deal with, adding there were also and resilience” the marine biologist and Environmentally Relevant commercial opportunities and other said. t Solutions to Increasing benefits from the seaweed that has

Mounds of sargassum seaweed washed ashore on a beach.

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Less than three years after its establishment, the Confucius Institute (CI) of The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill captured the prestigious global Confucius Institute of the Year Award. Global Award for Cave Hill Confucius Institute at Cave Hill

(l-r) Dr. Song Qingbao, Co-director, Confucius Institute; Zhang Xuejing, former CI volunteer teacher; Professor Eudine Barriteau, Principal, The UWI, Cave Hill; François Jackman, immediate past Co-director, Confucius Institute and Deborah Deane, Executive Assistant, Office of the Principal, with the winning award.

he honour was bestowed on 12th December, during the “The relationship between the Caribbean and China is of growing 12th Confucius Institute Conference in Xi’an, China by importance, and the Confucius Institute gives The UWI Cave Hill Tthe China-based Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters, the tools to equip our students with the language as well as the which has oversight for more than 500 institutes and over 1,000 cultural means to shape this relationship.” Confucius classrooms worldwide. Cave Hill’s Confucius Institute, which began operations in April The award was presented by the Vice Premier of the People’s 2015, is the youngest of The UWI’s three such institutions and the Republic of China, Ms Liu Yandong, during the opening youngest ever in the world to gain such recognition. It is also the ceremony of the conference which brings together thousands of first time a Confucius Institute in the English-speaking Caribbean representatives from Confucius Institutes, partner universities and has earned the award which recognises outstanding work during China’s Ministry of Education. Among the ceremony’s awardees, the year. Cave Hill Campus was the sole recipient from Latin America and The Confucius Institute at Cave Hill provides elementary to the Caribbean. advanced Chinese courses and imparts knowledge about Chinese In receiving the award, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The history and culture. In May 2017, it coordinated and hosted the UWI Cave Hill, Professor Eudine Barriteau, said: “It represents both inaugural regional conference of Caribbean Confucius Institutes recognition of the work the university and the Confucius Institute held in Bridgetown. have been doing together and an encouragement to achieve more.

Continued on page 20

CHILL NEWS 19 NEWS Embracing Cuba with Love by April A.S. Louis

Professor HU Ming, Chairman of the CUPL Council and Principal Eudine Barriteau shake hands after signing a MOU.

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In addition, it has implemented a programme with the Ministry “En Cuba, decimos amor con amor se paga,”…“In Cuba we of Education in Barbados to develop teaching in primary and say ‘Love is paid with Love’” was the response I received secondary schools and with the Caribbean Examination Council after thanking Idalmis Brooks and Dr. José Ramón Balaguer (CXC) to develop a Chinese language curriculum for Caribbean Cabrera (referenced professionally as Dr. Balaguer) for their schools. To date, thousands of students have benefited from the heart-warming welcome during my short visit to Cuba, for the CI’s teachings, including hundreds of university students. XI International Conference entitled “Cuba and the Caribbean: 45 years of relations”. The conference was hosted by the Since gaining Chinese proficiency HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Norman Girvan Chair of Caribbean Studies at the University Kaoshi) testing status in 2016, the Barbados-based Confucius of Havana. Whilst a very simple phrase, “amor con amor se Institute had administered HSK and YCT (Youth Chinese Test) paga” encapsulates Cuban philosophy on human relations examinations and is the only site authorised to do so in Barbados not only in terms of social interaction, but also in political and and the Eastern Caribbean. academic exchange. Professor Barriteau said the Institute’s relevant and innovative t was admirable and impressive how knowledgeable the work programme aligns perfectly with the internationalisation different Cuban professors and professionals, who participated thrust of the campus and reinforces its core values of integrity, in the conference, were of CARICOM’s structure, policies and excellence, gender justice, diversity, and student centredness. history. This knowledge was seen throughout all the generations Declaring the CI as a crucial partner in the educational planning, Iwhich participated; from past government officials, who served as delivery and outreach infrastructure of the Cave Hill Campus, ambassadors to CARICOM countries, to current university students she said, “The Confucius Institute enhances the impact of The - a fact which was displayed in the panel entitled “Youth Outlook UWI by building bridges with national and regional communities on 45 years of Cuban Relations with CARICOM”. In that panel, through the variety of programmes offered and the sheer scale of one of the most memorable presentations was one which chronicled its activism.” t the history of interaction between Las Casas de las Americas with various English and French speaking poets and writers. In all,

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there was a formidable interest in CARICOM people, literature, form of economic agreements, especially in times of recession, politics and academia and, most importantly, how it fits into Cuban appear as mirages in deserts of fiscal instability. Internally, dynamics. we have yet to concretise our identity as Caribbean people, transcending the traditional definitions of English, Spanish and The diplomatic relationship between CARICOM and Cuba may French Caribbean. The difficulties in integration, even amongst seem inescapable to some, considering the geographical proximity CARICOM nations, are testimony to the vicissitudes of our and historical similarities shared between the nations. However, regionalisation project. the political climate after the 1959 Revolution in Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, was one which could have prevented relations even between nations which shared historical parallels. However, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and , shortly after their own independence, established relations with Cuba in a tense political environment marked by the political and economic isolation of the Hispanic isle. As the late Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz stated, the decision was indeed a brave one, and Cuba “will never forget this noble gesture on the part of its Caribbean brothers.”

This has certainly been the case. In its relentless campaign to fortify relations between CARICOM and Cuba, the latter country has conceptualised politically a definition of Caribbean which focuses on inclusivity and similarity. A concept of fraternity is symbolised from the individual level, with kindness and openness within a few days of socialising, to the state level, with Cuba being the only state to have diplomatic missions in every CARICOM nation. This concept is also based on sharing resources with other Caribbean islands, as we have seen with Cuban scholarship, Head, Department of Government, Sociology and Social Work, Dr. healthcare and sport programmes. Even more recently, we have Tennyson Joseph; Cuban academic, Dr. José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera the proposal of a multi-destination tourism as a means of sharing and Cave Hill graduate student, April Louis at the University of Havana. tourist arrivals, rather than a tourist product based on destructive competition. The presenters at the XI International Conference, held at the I must highlight that this is not only a matter of cultural integration University of Havana, laid out the rigours of relations between based on idle romanticism, but one of political and economic CARICOM and Cuba but never proposed dismantling or abating survival. As island developing states, we continue to experience the the interactions. It was a matter of improving and reconfiguring consequences of neo-imperialism, economic underdevelopment our relations. The Cuba and CARICOM relations of 45 years ago and climate change. Additionally, US President Donald Trump are not the same as those which exist today. In analysing our and his policies were also greatly discussed, as his ideas have current political situation, it is vital to see what new opportunities severe repercussions for Caribbean nations, whether Spanish, we have to enhance our relations. To pay Love with Love … Amor French or English-speaking. These discussions were based on con Amor may sound too romantic and idealist to be the basis an understanding that we were susceptible to “Trumpism” and a of our foreign policy or political decisions; nevertheless, it helps resolution, or even coping mechanisms, could be established as a us to conceptualise integration as a mutual exchange of the best whole. With that said, the common thread running throughout the resources that each state possesses. We may never be able to conference was that CARICOM and Cuba relations were a means provide large sums of capital that other states may be able to offer. of survival, defence and an opportunity for prosperity and stability, if However, it can allow us to better cope with the challenges which carried out effectively. face our region. t “If” must be added, as there are a myriad of variables which constantly threaten the fortitude of our diplomatic relations. Externally, interventions in regional affairs commonly placed in the

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Principal Professor Eudine Barriteau along with Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education, Harry Husbands (third from left) and representatives of Germany share a light-hearted moment while observing the poster display.

he two-week educational display, showcased last November, outlined the major role that TEuropean nation has been playing in climate protection, with the ultimate aim of positioning its entire energy supply to renewables by 2050. Aptly falling within the observance of CARICOM Energy Month, the exhibition was hosted in partnership with German the governments of Barbados and Germany and the CARICOM Secretariat. It was facilitated by the Cave Hill Campus, the Division Exhibition of Energy and Telecommunications in Barbados, the CARICOM Secretariat and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für on Energy Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Students, members of staff and the general public Efficiency were educated on energy efficiency, heating, mobility, renewable energies, costs for the consumer, climate Efforts to wean the region off fossil protection, nuclear power, economical aspects, fuel dependency and to switch to more international aspects, the electricity grid, security sustainable energy forms received of supply, energy storage, civil participation and the considerable encouragement when future of energy supply. Cave Hill hosted the travelling energy The event had special significance for the campus exhibition, Germany's Energiewende or and its host country which has established itself as a German energy transition. leader in the renewable energy sector in the region.

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Cave Hill’s own track record in renewable energy and Cave Hill has itself reduced its consumption of energy its reputation as a research-oriented institution had generated by fossil fuels and correspondingly lowered received favourable reviews and featured prominently its energy costs. in the decision to site the exhibition within campus Under the watchful eyes of an energy committee, precincts. a number of conservation strategies have been National energy reduction efforts include: allowing implemented and are monitored for effectiveness. independent power producers to generate and sell PV panels have been installed to light bus stations, electricity derived from renewable sources to the occupancy sensors are in place in areas commonly used public grid; the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) by staff and students and are activated only when systems on the roofs of over 30 public buildings, the room is occupied, more energy-efficient bulbs are including 16 schools; and the provision of incentives for being used, renewable energy street lights have been businesses and private individuals to convert to cleaner implemented, charging stations for electric vehicles energy. However, despite those efforts, the country’s have been installed and academic programmes are fuel imports account for as much as 30 percent of being offered on renewable energy. export earnings. Plans are being made for more extensive PV Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, installations across the campus with an aim to reduce Science, Technology and Innovation, Senator Harcourt the energy bill by 50 percent by the year 2020, while Husbands, said the high fuel import bill shows that an intense sensitisation programme is earmarked for more needs to be done. staff and students to create greater awareness about energy conservation. t “It is recognised that we in the Caribbean have not been as focused as we should be on energy efficiency and our goal here, in Barbados, is to pick this ‘low- hanging fruit’ by reducing our electricity consumption by 22 percent by 2030,” he said during the exhibition’s opening ceremony. “We are also focusing some effort on the transportation sector. In Barbados, transportation accounts for well over 25 percent of all energy consumed, and therefore represents a major contributor to local greenhouse gas emissions as well as the importation of fossil fuels.”

Cave Hill has been gradually turning into a leading voice on renewable energy, both in terms of it advocacy and its practices. In 2012, Professor Eudine Barriteau, now the Pro Vice- Chancellor and Principal, presented Prime Minister Freundel Stuart with the Green Economy: Scoping Study Synthesis Report Barbados, conducted in association with the United Nations Environment Programme, that provided a blueprint for radically transforming the Barbados economy by harnessing the One of the solar photovoltaic wind hybrid systems benefits of a sustainable, green economy. at Cave Hill Campus.

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Ambassador of Cuba to Barbados, Dr Francisco Fernández Peña Strengthening and Principal Eudine Barriteau signing the MOU.

Cuban has been one of Cuba’s most precious gifts to the world. Cuban doctors are usually among the first on Connections the ground after any natural disaster throughout the ast year’s first anniversary of the passing of the Caribbean. Cuban revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, was “This underscores the fact that the public health marked with deserving reverence when Cave Hill L system in Cuba is one of the best in the world and Campus moved to deepen its relationship with Cuba. we, in the Caribbean, owe a debt of gratitude to the The campus signed memoranda of understanding Government and the people of Cuba for the way they (MOUs) with two institutions in the Spanish-speaking have continuously assisted regional governments with Caribbean country. health care.” Two agreements, formalising Cave Hill’s relationship She recalled a personal anecdote of Cuban doctors with the University of Havana and Cuba’s Ministry dispensing eye treatment to her father in her native of Public Health, were signed on 24th November, by , adding that they have made “a significant Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Eudine contribution to healthcare in that country and the Barriteau and Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Caribbean.” Barbados, Dr. Francisco Fernández Peña. The signing of the MOUs was held on the first Professor Barriteau said Cuba has provided anniversary of the passing of Cuban revolutionary distinguished service to its Caribbean neighbours, leader, Fidel Castro, and was one of two activities held particularly in the area of healthcare. by the Cave Hill Campus to mark the occasion. “The People’s Republic of Cuba has always been a The MOUs pave the way for the mutual exchange of partner in the developmental needs of Barbados and university staff and students and joint research, among other Caribbean countries, and we thank them for other areas of collaboration. this. The development of medicine and public health Continued on page 27

24 CHILL NEWS NEWS MEDIC ON A MISSION

& with Dr. Kenneth QA CONNELL Dr. Kenneth Connell currently wears most countries have taken some advocacy several hats in connection with his campaign at a national level and this is substantive duties as a UWI lecturer likely because of one of the strongest in Clinical Pharmacology and a declarations in the world, the Port-of-Spain hypertension specialist who runs the Declaration of more than ten years ago QEH’s Hypertension Clinic. He is: which led to the NCD declaration by the World Health Organisation. Organisations t Chair - Faculty of Medical Sciences like the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (FMS) Task Force on International have evolved to champion civil society Outreach; organisations, and have gotten more t Chair - Cave Hill Articulation involved in the fight against NCDs across Committee for UWI/University of the region. So, although it has been a Ghana Transnational Programme; country response, there has definitely been t Governor of the Caribbean Chapter of a holistic regional response as well. American College of Physicians; and We’ve also had changes in policy in awareness of blood pressure by capturing t President of the Heart and Stroke Barbados and some of the regional ten million blood pressure readings Foundation of Barbados. countries such as sugar-sweetened drink internationally. Barbados was among less taxes, tobacco taxes and legislation, than 100 countries that participated, with and we now have intensive education in Jamaica and St. Lucia being the only Q. How is the Caribbean faring in the global terms of lowering salt intake and green other two Caribbean countries. Barbados, fight against hypertension and are you environments, at work and schools. The in collaboration with The University of satisfied that we are doing enough, as a third factor would really be the healthcare the West Indies, had 500 volunteers, region, to put pressure, so to speak, on this system. Even given our limited resources, the highest response rate based on global epidemic? Caribbean countries have strengthened our population size. Not only was the their healthcare systems so that they get university involved in the project at a A. The Caribbean is faring as expected more bang for their buck. Using Barbados policy level, but students in the Faculty of because most in the region are low to as an example, given that I’m intimately Medical Sciences were on the streets and middle income countries and, unfortunately, involved with the efforts, at polyclinics in business places taking blood pressure the disease burden for non-communicable we have used projects such as the readings and collecting data. That data (NCDs) is not evenly distributed Standardised Hypertension Treatment was sent to the project team in the internationally and most of them are in low Project to access cheap evidence-based United Kingdom and will inform the final to middle income countries. It is predicted drugs in the treatment of hypertension, and document on what awareness and control that by 2025, 80 percent of the global have been able to reduce the mean blood rates are like. burden of NCDs will be from low to middle pressure readings or increase the control income countries of which Barbados and Q. As President of the Heart and Stroke rates in just 18 months. the rest of the Caribbean are a part. We Foundation, what can you tell us about have limited and vulnerable resources. Q. Can you provide an update on the May the synergies and collaboration between Last year, we saw the effect of several Measurement Month initiative conducted in that organisation and The UWI and hurricanes so we know that resources can 2017 in which The UWI was involved? how can this relationship be further be easily shifted from health. So, although strengthened? the Caribbean has been responding as A. The International Society of expected, the countries have done a Hypertension (ISH) decided that the major A. Academia cannot be divorced from civil commendable job. For instance, even barrier to control is awareness. Last May, society because a lot of our interventions with those limits and smaller communities, a campaign was set out by the ISH to raise Continued on page 26

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.... Continued from page 25 offshore medical schools in the region, but students between the University of Ghana not many of them have NCFMEA approval; and medical students of The University of and strategies are informed by research. so this is something of which we are the West Indies, Cave Hill. The students Therefore, having a university person at the extremely proud. from Ghana would come and do their head of the Heart and Stroke Foundation preclinical studies for the first two years enriches both institutions. As an example, Q. We have engaged the University of of their programme and would return to May as Measurement Month came from Miami and the University of Ghana in Ghana to complete their medical sciences the foundation, which then relied on the negotiations since obtaining the NCFMEA programme and exit with a University of university for support. The flip side is accreditation. Can you give us the Ghana degree. We are hoping to see the that the Cave Hill Campus now has two background to those talks, their current first set of students in 2019. automated external defibrillators (AEDs), status, and are other negotiations ongoing? which are life-saving devices that are Q. How important is it for us to align with an A. I lead the task force on international applied to the chest and delivers shock, organisation like the American College of outreach which was commissioned by and are used in emergencies. That is a Physicians (ACP)? How did this alignment Principal Eudine Barriteau in July last direct result of conversations between the come about and what are some of the year. The key mandate of this task force campus, health officials and the foundation current and future plans for the Caribbean is internationalisation of the faculty’s to have AEDs in public places. The Chapter? undergraduate programme and other foundation has partnered with The UWI programmes that may be of relevance. A. The ACP is the largest professional for a very long time - we have trained both One of our first partners, logistically, was institution in the United States with a medical students and doctors at the hospital the University of Miami (UM). Last year, membership of more than 150,000 doctors in advanced and basic life support courses we were hosted by UM for the signing of and medical students all around the world. I for more than seven years. Recently, the a historic MOU between The UWI Cave would say that roughly about 30 percent of foundation received the very prestigious Hill and UM. This MOU spoke to campus the members are international. The college Bloomberg Grant from New York, USA. Part programmes, not only medical sciences. is essentially structured in chapters. At The of the grant speaks to advocacy and we will The main aim of the mission was to push UWI, over a two-year vigorous process, be collaborating with the university in this the medical science agenda. Leading the we were successful in the creation of the area. task force, I’ve had several meetings with ACP’s Caribbean Chapter. This means Q. Cave Hill has a flagship medical science faculty and administrators there, discussing that we now have a voice in the college’s programme which it is seeking to market how we can create partnerships in leadership in terms of voting on policy and globally. Can you speak more about this? research, with scholarships and academic protocols that are set throughout the region exchanges, and more importantly, in and the world. Secondly, we are on the A. I am very proud of the medical sciences exchanges of our undergraduate and international stage; so we are seen. The programme, especially the fact that it has postgraduate students for training at UM Caribbean Chapter will allow for closer double accreditation. We have regional and vice versa. The discussions are very synergies throughout the region, which accreditation by CAAM-HP (The Caribbean advanced. The university is currently in the is the main aim. We can have academic Accreditation Authority for Education in process of signing a more specific MOU for exchanges, design various products and Medicine and other Health Professions). medical sciences, called the Harrington advocate for the betterment of the health This means there was an external quality Agreement, which would allow for a further of adult patients in the region. Cave assurance by this body which has validated ease of exchange of staff and students Hill Campus’s doctors being part of this our programme as having met certain core between the two institutions. The UWI also organisation creates a natural alignment and key objectives for teaching medicine has an MOU with the University of Ghana. because we have two institutions working in the region. There are only just about Cave Hill was the first campus, of the three towards the same aim of producing quality four or five medical schools in the region landed-campuses and one virtual campus, care and quality products in the form of that are accredited, and we’re the only one to operationalise this MOU. Through a medical doctors as internists. in Barbados. We also have the NCFMEA mission with Republic Bank, we went This is an edited version of an interview (National Committee on Foreign Medical off to Ghana in October. The aim was to with Dr. Kenneth Connell. t Education and Accreditation) approval, obtain more information from the University which is from the USA. This stamp of of Ghana, to highlight the existence of approval allows American citizens to study the MOU and to build partnerships. We medicine at The UWI Cave Hill Campus and virtually concretised an agreement that be federally funded. There are more than 50 would soon see the exchange of Ghanaian

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.... Continued from page 24 former Minister of Health, a member of the Council of State for Cuba, an early founder of the Cuban “Over the years we have developed links with some Revolution, and one of the six persons designated by of the major universities in the world, but we take Fidel to act during his period of illness. The presence great care to ensure that we have formal links with of such a prominent personality at the colloquium was the great universities and institutions close to us,” an important indication of the kinds of relationships said Principal Barriteau, as she touted Cave Hill’s which could be developed between Cuba and The UWI. internationalisation thrust. “It is of great significance that following the “We have the greatest respect for the institutions and colloquium, I, along with an MPhil research student, universities within the Republic of Cuba.” April Louis, visited Cuba to attend the XI International In a move geared towards memorialising the Conference (University of Havana, Cuba) ‘Cuba and contribution of the late Caribbean leader, members of the Caribbean: 45 Years of Relations’ from 6th-8th the academic community, the pan-African movement December 2017. A graduate in Political Science and and others held a two-day colloquium to celebrate the Spanish, April's research thesis is around the question legacy of Fidel Castro. of Comparative Political Thought in which she is examining the political thought of Cuban intellectual The featured speaker was Dr. José Ramón Balaguer, José Martí and identifying the differences with English- Head of the International Relations Department of The speaking Caribbean thinkers on the question of Communist Party of Cuba, who led a high-powered independence, nationalism and identity. April's visit delegation from the Spanish-speaking country. proved remarkably useful in deepening her insights In a post-conference reflection, Head of the and knowledge and her familiarity with the topic. Not Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work only did she make a successful presentation to the and Psychology, Dr. Tennyson Joseph, one of the event conference, she was also called upon to give comments organisers, said the late Cuban leader was the most on Cuba-CARICOM relations to Cuban National prominent Caribbean personality and the Caribbean's Television. Perhaps the highlight of the visit was the most important statesman of the latter half of the 20th courtesy extended to us by Dr. Ramón Balaguer, who century. agreed to receive us in his office adjacent to the Plaza de la Revolución.” “It was important to hold the two days of reflection on the life and contribution of Fidel Castro, in order that Dr. Joseph described the colloquium as highly a younger generation of Caribbean persons could learn successful, noting there is much potential in a about and get an understanding of his contribution to UWI-Cuba relationship given the possibilities for Caribbean development. As an example of the kinds collaboration in areas of public health, medicine, of ‘learning opportunity’ on the contribution of Fidel sports research, climate change, alternative energy, of which I am speaking, I can draw reference to the international relations, political theory and political presentation of Dr. Alafia Samuels, whose topic was economy, and languages and linguistics. on ‘The Transformation of the Cuban Health System “One key expectation is that collaborative exchanges under Fidel's Guidelines’. Following her presentation, can take place between all members of Cave Hill there were a number of seasoned political activists and the University of Havana that will redound to in Barbados who indicated their astonishment at the the benefit of both institutions. The possibilities are high level of advancement of the Cuban health system. innumerable,” he noted. Many of the participants called for her presentation to be made available to a wider audience.” The colloquium was staged by the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Humanities and Education, the Dr. Joseph noted that the colloquium also solidified Faculty of Medical Sciences, the George Alleyne Chronic the MOU signed between The UWI and University of Disease Research Centre, the Institute for Gender and Havana. Development Studies and the Embassy of the Republic “It was of key significance to us that one of the leading of Cuba. t participants at the colloquium was Dr. Balaguer, a

CHILL NEWS 27 AWARDS

While he was devoted to his studies at Cave Hill, he also used the opportunity to immerse himself in the Barbadian culture, network and spend quality time with his peers, who hailed from across the region.

“I [lived] on Frank Worrell Hall and that was the highlight of my university experience. I was next door to Trinidadians, Jamaicans, and Lucians … I learnt a lot about the Caribbean without having to actually go to every island. Meeting new people and understanding new things really made me focus better on my work.

“For example, I looked forward to my government courses. I used to sit down and hear people talk about their countries and then I related it back to my classes and that helped me a lot.”

Phillips’s formula for achieving academic excellence was simple Zachary - attend classes, take notes and engage in a deep discussion on pertinent issues. PHILLIPS “I had to write it, discuss it, and discuss it again with my classmates and my roommate. I couldn’t just sit and listen and not Double Valedictorian make notes. That is how I learnt,” explained the self-proclaimed regionalist, whose first degree was funded by the Antiguan Zachary Allen Phillips has his Government. His second degree was partially funded through a eyes firmly set on working at scholarship from UWI. the United Nations or another Phillips’s decision to study law did not occur in a vacuum, and was international organisation. not without the support of his family, including his mom, Renee, and his grandmother, Isola. He recounted being told by his e has already set the stage for excellence, becoming grandmother that she believed he would follow in the footsteps of one of the rare double valedictorians to have graced his late grandfather, Cosmos Phillips, a former Attorney General Hthe halls of The University of the West Indies, of . Cave Hill Campus. He was first chosen by his graduating “At every milestone she [would] say, ‘I can’t wait for the next one’. schoolmates in 2015 when he secured a Bachelor’s Degree So since I am graduating now, the next one is being called to the in Political Science and Law (First Class Honours), and was Bar and she [my grandmother] is excited about that. The truth is selected, once again, in 2017 when he graduated with a that I tried to rebel a little bit and that’s why my first degree was Bachelor of Law (First Class Honours). Political Science and Law and not full law. I also don’t like criminal As he bid official farewell to the campus and his fellow law; I don’t like court room law. When I was at Cave Hill doing graduands on 21st October 2017, the message from the 23 my first degree, I took a course called International Law and I year old was one of encouragement and to never settle for really fell in love with it. It is evident that I really fell in love with mediocrity. it because I am doing my master’s now in International Law,” he said. He delivered his advice with mixed emotions, having to leave the place he has called home for at least five years. The young Antiguan said his studies in political science have taught him a lot about politics, how governments work and “I feel like a part of this university family,” said Phillips, countries are structured, among other things, all of which would ahead of his departure to pursue a Master of Laws in Public help in International Law. International Law at the Queen Mary University of London.

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Though interested in working with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, the Caribbean Community and international organisations, he would ideally prefer an attachment to the United Nations.

“Being in London is a stepping stone … because a lot of international organisations have their headquarters in London. I have already started applying for internships with several international law firms and I am hoping that working with a group like that would get my foot in the door,” Phillips added. t

Cave Hill Captures Cross- Campus Awards

ave Hill made a clean sweep of three longstanding cross-campus academic Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dr. Justin Robinson presents prizes to Shafel prizes in 2017, for first-year and C McDowell (left) and Kion Taylor (right). final-year examination performances in the previous year. These prizes are awarded commitment to teaching and nurturing annually to the most outstanding students student excellence. in The University of the West Indies, “The Faculty is delighted in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of performances of our students and Humanities and Education across all The celebrates with them in their successes. UWI campuses. This is a reflection of the hard work and Shafel McDowell achieved the top prize in dedication of the academic and support Theology student accounting for obtaining the highest marks staff of the Faculty of Social Sciences in Yolanda Clarke in Level 1 examinations, after beating out particular and, in general, the support team thousands of fellow first-year students at at UWI Cave Hill. challenge for these awards through Cave Hill, Mona and St. Augustine. “Given the financial constraints the campus exceptional student performance, from the days of its pioneering Faculty of Arts Her faculty colleague, Kion Taylor, received has recently faced, the staff has made and General Studies (later renamed the Charles M. Kennedy Prize which goes significant sacrifices; but what remains Faculty of Humanities and Education) and to the student with the highest marks in the constant is the quality of education that the inauguration of its Faculty of Social BSc Economics degree programme, in the we deliver. Our programmes will continue Sciences in 1975. final year of examinations. to be globally impactful and rooted in our Caribbean identity.” Cave Hill Cross-Campus Awards in the Past Both students were enrolled in the BSc Ten Years (2007-2016): Economics and Accounting degree The third award was the Hugh Springer programme in the Faculty of Social Prize which went to Theology student, First Year Prize – 2015-2016 Sciences. University and faculty leadership Yolanda Clarke. She was regarded as the Charles Kennedy Prize – 2015-2016 and colleagues were delighted at the 2015- most distinguished final-year student of the Hugh Springer Prize – 2015-2016 2016 results announced recently by The Faculty of Humanities and Education, and First Year Prize – 2014-2015 UWI’s Board for Undergraduate Studies. that of Social Sciences within The UWI. Charles Kennedy Prize – 2013-2014 Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at The Springer and Kennedy prizes have Charles Kennedy Prize – 2011-2012 Cave Hill, Dr. Justin Robinson, praised the been in existence since the late 1960s. Hugh Springer Prize – 2011-2012 students’ success and said the top awards Through the years, Cave Hill has performed Charles Kennedy Prize – 2008-2009 are indicative of the faculty’s enduring creditably in maintaining a consistent Charles Kennedy Prize – 2007-2008 t

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Days before crossing the stage last October to be greeted by new Chancellor Robert Bermudez on Graduation Day, scores of top achievers in The University of the West Indies Class of 2017 received special recognition during a Reception in Honour of Scholarly Excellence held at Cave Hill Campus. 1 Recognising Scholarly Achievement

t was the second year the campus staged the ceremony, that seems earmarked to be a marquee event on its academic calendar, Ito showcase and celebrate outstanding student achievement. 2 The highly anticipated event, the brainchild of Campus Principal Professor Eudine Barriteau, brings acknowledgement of high The campus-wide recognition of such scholastic achievement on par with The achievement aligns with the global University of the West Indies’ similar annual academic practice of recognising individuals recognition of outstanding student-athletes who have made the Dean’s list based on high scholastic accomplishment. The Principal, Professor Eudine Barriteau and its top sportsmen and sportswomen. addressing the honorees. It also follows the traditional practice of celebration is gaining firm corporate support staging various awards ceremonies to from business practitioners. Sponsors honour faculty and staff whose exceptional have lauded the initiative and are pledging work helps The UWI to fulfill its mandate. further backing in an effort to encourage the continued pursuit and acknowledgement of Scores of students who received First Class scholarly distinction. Honours at the undergraduate level, as well as those who gained distinctions and Peter Arender, Chief Investment Officer high commendation for their master’s and of Fortress Fund Managers, one of the doctoral degrees respectively, were toasted event sponsors, noted his organisation was for their enviable achievements. “happy to support excellence especially among young people,” as he pointed out Over 1,600 students, including 361 at the that the reception was one of several postgraduate level, graduated from Cave collaborative initiatives between his Hill last year. Over 120 of them received 3 company and the university. 3 First Class Honours while more than 80 earned distinction in their master’s degrees. He added: “The students who have worked There were also 13 PhD recipients, two of to reach the top of their disciplines deserve whom earned high commendation. our support because their hard work will

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this ceremony. We do not expect you to rest on your laurels. Your journey has just begun. Wherever you go and whatever you do, we want you to view these academic achievements as marking your dedication to discipline and excellence ...You deserve to be recognised. You have done exceptionally well.” She noted that celebrating their achievement was in line with the now annual recognition of student-athletes 4 across the university, campus staff who receive the Principal’s Award for Excellence and, at The UWI-wide not stop at graduation. Their same energy, level, the acknowledgement of those 5 focus and determination – if we encourage who provide exceptional service and are it – will make countless contributions over granted the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for the years and benefit us all.” Excellence.t

Another sponsor, ophthalmologist Dr. Nigel 1. Dean Faculty of Law, Dr. David Berry presenting Barker, who saw merit in supporting the Janeil Odle with her award. venture said: “I did enjoy it and appreciated 2. Dr. Waneisha Jones who earned a Master’s in the value. Funds permitting, I will most likely Public Health (MPH) with distinction accepts her award from Dean, Faculty of Medical Sciences, contribute again…” Dr. Peter Adams. Several stakeholders who operate 3. Valedictorian Rhyesa Joseph who gained first class honours in Political Science receiving commercial enterprises at the campus, her award from Deputy Dean, Faculty of Social including Campus Cafeteria and Mount Sciences, Dr. Dion Greenidge. Restaurant (Caribbean Cuizine) as well 4. Singer, Ashawnya Bellamy provided some of the as Campus Mart, spoke of wanting to evening’s entertainment. contribute to student development in any 5. First class honouree in Chemistry, Tamara Thomas (left) receives her award from Deputy Dean, way. Faculty of Science and Technology, Dr. Leah Garner- O’Neale. In a brief congratulatory address at the 7 6 6. Darren Carlos who gained first class honours in ceremony, Professor Barriteau made Theology received his award from Dean, Faculty special mention of Simone Delzin, a First of Humanities & Education, Professor Evelyn Class Honours graduate of the Faculty O’Callaghan. of Science and Technology who received the 2017 Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship. “You have demonstrated quite clearly you have moved beyond potential and promise,” Professor Barriteau told the high achievers at the ceremony. “Tonight you have delivered on that potential and so celebrate the fact that you have obtained the pinnacle of academic excellence for students. Principal Eudine Barriteau and Deputy Principal Professor Clive Landis (front centre) along with “The campus is very proud to Coordinator for Graduate Studies and Research, Professor Eddy Ventose (at left) with some of the 2017 recognise your achievements with awardees.

CHILL NEWS 31 AWARDS

A science scholar, who enabled delivery of the first taught master’s degree programme within her department in over two decades, was among six outstanding employees who captured the Principal’s Award for Excellence in 2017. Rewarding Dr. Angela Alleyne receives her award from EXCELLENCE Principal Eudine Barriteau.

Dr. Angela Alleyne, from the that damage the cassava crop, Department of Biological and as well as the area of biosafety. Chemical Sciences at Cave Hill She successfully designed and Campus, was recognised in the implemented the MSc in Biosafety, areas of teaching, research and the first taught master’s degree public service. Her fellow academic, programme for her department in Westin James from the Faculty over twenty years. Serving as the of Law, also gained recognition faculty champion for the current in the area of teaching when the UWI strategic plan, she was also campus held its Annual Retirees and commended for responding readily Staff Awards Ceremony on 16th to university service and outreach December. activities. Westmin James Other awards for outstanding service to the campus community James, an exceptional law lecturer, went to Carla Springer-Hunte, has acquired a reputation for Manager of the Errol Barrow Centre teaching the International Mooting for Creative Imagination (EBCCI), course. His transformative style and Halda Davis-Woodroffe from has earned laudatory reviews the Campus Registrar’s Office, from students. In addition, his with similar accolades going to teams have won three prestigious administrative and technical service international mooting competitions, (ATS) staff, Natalie Greenidge and namely: the Caribbean Court of Ariane Franklin. Justice International Moot Court Competition in 2012; the Inter- Since joining the campus in 2008, American Human Rights Moot Court Dr. Alleyne, a biochemist, has Competition in 2014; and the Inter- earned recognition for her sterling American Sustainable Development contribution to research, teaching Moot Court Competition in 2014. and public service. Her research Natalie Greenidge focuses on finding a cure for viruses

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Springer-Hunte’s background functions as an administrative in accounting and theatre has assistant. A consummate team been applied successfully to the player, she is highly regarded efficient and effective planning for her ability to manage with and execution of a wide range confidence, use of initiative, and of activities at the EBCCI which planning and executing her work she has capably managed for the without supervision. Her skills have past seven years. Her contribution also benefited a number of campus has significantly reinforced public committees. perception of the level of excellence with which the centre and the university are associated. As an active researcher in the area of popular culture, she has presented papers at a number of international Carla Springer-Hunte conferences and her work has been published in reputable journals.

Ariane Franklin

Franklin, a pivotal force in the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), was acknowledged for undertaking duties beyond her expected Halda Davis-Woodroffe accepts her award from Professor Eudine Barriteau. scope and credited as being principally responsible for the many commendations which that Davis-Woodroffe, a senior assistant meetings. Her creativity was unit has received in recent years. registrar who functions as line especially demonstrated by the Training in project management, manager in providing secretarial use of a paperless approach in the business etiquette, report and support to the university’s major circulation of meeting documents. minute writing, protocol, events statutory committees, while In this regard, her use of technology management and records undertaking a range of other places her at the forefront of Cave management underpin her administrative responsibilities, Hill’s mission to become a Smart impeccable interpersonal skills, was described as an absolute Campus. while enabling her to undertake professional who epitomises Backed by a solid 18-year career her duties with dedication and efficiency and effectiveness in at the university, Greenidge’s efficiency. executing her duties. Her work skills and knowledge of university Altogether, the university bade within the secretariat was said procedures are highly sought farewell to 19 former colleagues, to have contributed significantly after, thanks to her admirable while 67 staff members received to Cave Hill’s reputation for attitude and aptitude in the Human awards for long service ranging efficiency in executing its Resources Section where she from 15 to 40 years. t

CHILL NEWS 33 AWARDS

and win her special prize of a tablet. By August, forty-three PULSE Points had been awarded, and Shavonne DeMendonça (formerly Rudder) had racked up the highest number, surpassing the required three and accumulating a staggering 13. Shyvonne’s deployment to several offices during the past decade helped to forge her reputation as a consummate customer service professional. Not surprisingly, her passion for front-line interaction helped her emerge as a friendly face and voice in the newly- established Student Enrolment & Retention Unit (SERU), following her transfer there last August. Student Nynia Etienne nominated Shavonne for a PULSE Point because: “She really helped me with my journey at the university. When I had difficulty with registration she ensured that everything would be taken care of. Whenever I lacked motivation she would inspire me to continue pushing. Being far away from home isn't easy and whenever I was dealing with a family issue or personal issue she would always listen. The funniest moment with Shavonne Shavonne was the day she DeMendonça bought me a water bottle. She Captures the PULSE of Service Excellence was tired of seeing me walking around the school drinking from a glass or soft drink bottle. Shavonne is more than a secretary; she Cave Hill is pacing itself for its long-term is a confidant, mother and friend to me.” transformation into a Smart Campus for the 21st In her nomination, external customer Jeanille Nedd wrote that: century. Student-centred and technology-enabled, “Shavonne went above and beyond to assist me in whatever this reorientation of the campus is also being way she could when she learnt of my visual impairment. Her fuelled by a renewed focus on customer service bright smile, reassuring words and strong spirit, along with her as a key determinant of the quality of the student professionalism, always made tasks easy when conducting experience. business at the office.” Another student, who preferred to remain anonymous, nominated n June 2017, Cave Hill launched an employee recognition Shavonne for being “very helpful when I had a problem. She made scheme designed to Position the University to Lead through sure she got back to me with the answers to my questions, went IService Excellence, dubbed a PULSE Points programme. out of her way to try to get my problem dealt with, also reassuring It encourages commitment to the campus’s service values by me that everything will work out. She gave me positive advice, providing a mechanism for students, employees and external letting me know once I put my faith and trust in God everything will customers to nominate staff for a PULSE Points award whenever also work out!” they are served with exceptional attentiveness, efficiency and Shavonne attributes her inter-personal skills partly to her training in courtesy. massage therapy. This teaching imparts the importance of staying During its pilot phase, the programme emphasised quality internal composed in order to avoid passing negative feelings to clients customer service. Employees were invited to recognise deserving during treatment. “Too often,” she says, “we allow ourselves to get colleagues who supported their efforts to meet the needs of the lost in our own situations and feelings. This can easily lead us to campus’s ultimate beneficiaries – its students. As part of the create a less than pleasant experience for those with whom we will internal promotion, Principal Professor Eudine Barriteau challenged inevitably come into contact.” Her greatest motivation is “seeing each staff member to become the first to earn three PULSE Points a satisfied customer” and she does her best to achieve that each

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and every time by reminding herself that, "Whatever else might be l ‘Find inspiration’ – Though exceptional, Shavonne her down happening, you are working.” days and rough patches like anyone else. At those times, she Shavonne offers some other practical approaches to service: draws strength from inspirational Christian music or from a conversation with a supportive friend. These have helped her l ‘Personality wins over knowledge’ – She remembers that in to serve colleagues and students as they deserve, even during an earlier posting, it required a steep learning curve to get her stressful times. to the point of being able to answer students’ many questions knowledgeably, especially on administrative procedures. Her l ‘See the opportunity’ – Shavonne has had her fair share of ability to strike up and maintain excellent working relations difficult customers – the ones who are frustrated (and show with a network of persons on campus, who provided guidance it) because they may have had a poor service experience when she needed, ably assisted her. If she didn’t know the before they reached her desk. She tries to make their day answer, she knew how to get it. She would politely ask the better, believing that at the end of the day, “Everyone, even student to allow her time to check, and make a quick call to a the customer who seems flustered or is rude, really just wants colleague or senior member of staff. to have their problem resolved.” Her secret weapon, then, is empathy. That allows her to “make bad interactions good and l ‘Keep notes’ – In the early days, Shavonne ensured that make good interactions great.” she would only ever be stumped by the same question once by making notes whenever she received guidance from a Sharing her views on the PULSE Points programme, Shavonne colleague. Eventually, she could make mental notes, but in the welcomes the opportunity it offers “for all of us to recognise where beginning, she relied on what she wrote down. our focus ought to be; on our customers.” Even so, she points out its limitations, given that, as impressed as they may be, some colleagues and customers could find it challenging to find the time to complete the online form or submit a nomination on paper. “They are truly moved by the service they receive, yes; but their busy routines, their immediate commitments, many things may present as distractions, which may prevent them from writing that review.” That means that some deserving colleagues’ efforts may go unrecognised. As coordinator of PULSE Points, the Campus Quality Assurance Office, with the Principal’s support, is committed to raising awareness of the programme and reminding internal and external customers to help the Campus to recognise outstanding employees through ongoing online and off-line promotional activity. Shavonne notes that, “Every interaction we have is an opportunity to, not only affect a person’s mood and create a positive impression … but … to further build the UWI brand or erode it. We are all ambassadors after all - UWI ambassadors.” Her words perfectly underscore our Professor Eudine Barriteau presents Shavonne DeMondonça imperative and commitment to Position the University to with her winning prize. Lead through Service Excellence. l ‘Smile’ – When Shavonne speaks to a customer on the phone, By Koelle Boyce, Quality Assurance Coordinator, Campus she tries to do so with a smile on her face, knowing that her Quality Assurance Office t positive sentiment is likely to be transmitted in her tone of voice. As she says, “The secret of pushing your personality across the phone is to smile.”

CHILL NEWS 35 SPORT

Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles addresses the launch of the Faculty of Sport.

On Wednesday 26th July 2017, another page was written in the long UWI Launches and storied history of The University of the Faculty of West Indies (The UWI) with the launch of its SPORT first new faculty in n announcing the details, UWI getting our share of the revenue. 40 years. The Faculty Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir This is something that we must of Sport has been IHilary Beckles stressed that the now take very seriously.” faculty will seek to maintain the added to the academic The structure and design of the regional excellence that has been new faculty is intended to reflect repertoire at a time achieved in sport thus far, while the regional nature of The UWI’s when the Caribbean committing to reclaim that which engagement. The Faculty of Sport was lost. is emerging as “an will comprise four academies of elite global sporting Acknowledging that sport is a sport – one on each campus – US$145 billion industry, Sir Hilary civilisation”. coordinated through an Office outlined that the Caribbean was of the Dean. A unique feature not getting its just share. will see the new faculty being “We are producing the talent. We guided by three disciplinary are producing the entertainment. pillars: one focused on teaching, We are producing the products learning and research; a second that capture the imagination of the on professional outreach and world. The world looks upon us to engagement, connecting with the produce excellence, but we are not various regional bodies involved in

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the administration and governance Honourable Usain Bolt, which will Jamaica, who believes it presents of sport; while the third pillar is capture the full journey of how the perfect opportunity to harness geared towards public outreach and the university has done its best the gifts of Caribbean people in a community development. to participate in the journey of field where they have reached the highest echelons of excellence. The UWI Vice-Chancellor believes Caribbean sport. that sport has impacted the He also outlined the launching of a “We should encourage them global economy like no other capital campaign aimed at raising and ourselves as a society, and industry through convergence of US$70 million in celebration of allow all of those who have fields ranging from science and The UWI’s 70th anniversary. The performed with such proficiency technology to health, tourism and funding is geared towards meeting to seize the opportunity to manufacturing; and it now offers the infrastructural needs of the capitalise on the potential of an the region the best chance at Faculty of Sport, resulting in state- area where the region enjoys a . of-the-art facilities across all competitive advantage in the global “If there is one industry that we campuses. marketplace. can develop in the Caribbean right “Universities are not built to serve “My vision has been that the now to diversify our economies and themselves. Universities are built Caribbean would be seen as an make our economies competitive, to serve the communities that international mecca for sports. it is to build a sporting industry support them. We are doing this The Caribbean is no longer just in our region. We are hoping because we believe this is in the for sugar and bananas. It is for that our faculty will do all of the best interest of Caribbean people promoting the creative skills and relevant research, teaching and at this moment in time. Continuing talents of our people.” learning, to participate in that to serve our people is our number conversation with our investors, one priority. This is another Among the former Prime Minister’s our entrepreneurs, our public sector demonstration that your university hopes for the new faculty is and our global manufacturers to cares about your destiny and your the establishment of approved enable that focus to take place in future.” laboratories, catering to all levels of international testing in sport, the Caribbean space.” The official launch, which took along with the expansion of linkages During the launch, Sir Hilary place at The UWI Regional beyond the English-speaking announced that The UWI was in the Headquarters in Jamaica, was Caribbean, promoting true regional process of preparing a manuscript, attended by regional sporting unity. From Sir Frank Worrell to the administrators including the President of Cricket There were several other visual West Indies (CWI), and written endorsements for Whycliffe ‘Dave’ the new faculty from: current Cameron, and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, The President of the Most Honourable Andrew Holness; Jamaica Olympic Jamaican Senator Pearnel Charles, Committee, Michael speaking on behalf of the Minister Fennell. of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Honourable Olivia ‘Babsy’ The new faculty Grange; various student leaders received a tremendous and student-athletes; West Indies endorsement from cricket legends, Sir Everton Weekes The Most Honourable and Jeffrey Dujon; and current CWI Deputy Principal Professor Clive Landis and Head, PJ Patterson, former Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams. t Academy of Sport, Amanda Reifer confer at the Prime Minister of launch of the new sport faculty.

CHILL NEWS 37 SPORT

Drawing on the region’s long success in cricket and, more recently, track and field, football and netball, Dr. Mansingh highlighted the vast talent pool available in the Caribbean; however, he noted that there is much more that can be done. “The reliance on science and technology in sport, coupled with the apathy towards this in our region, has seen our dominance slip in many of these sports. The creation of the Faculty of Sport gives us an opportunity to bring together all of the creative and scientific minds of the region, while harnessing leaders in all aspects of sport, from throughout the world, to offer support to the athletes, many of whom have Dean, Faculty of Sport, Dr. Akshai Mansingh chosen to make this region their home to perfect their skills.” Dr. Mansingh also noted that the scope of the faculty New extended beyond active sport participants and elite athletes. “Creative academic minds with an interest Sport Faculty in anything to do with sport will have an opportunity to pursue their research; and practitioners such as coaches, strength and conditioning experts and sports Adopts physiotherapists will also find a forum in this faculty.” The way in which the faculty was conceptualised by Team Focus Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles offers lots

eveloping superstars, capturing hunger for success and harnessing the Dcreativity of the region will be some of the guiding forces driving the work of the Faculty of Sport – the first new faculty at The University of the West Indies in 40 years.

The faculty, under the guidance of new Dean, Dr. Akshai Mansingh, has been tasked with playing a major role in the development of a true sporting industry in the Caribbean. “I am truly honoured to have been selected to manage this vision of the Faculty of Sport,” said Dr. Mansingh during the official launch last year. “Our team in all of the academies across the four campuses will work together to ensure that this faculty becomes as precious to our region as our sportsmen and women. I re-emphasise that our team will do so because this faculty is a team sport and not an individual event.”

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Academic Coordinator, Academy of Sport, Dr. Rudolph Alleyne (left) puts an athlete through his paces in a sports lab.

of potential and scope, and according to Dr. Mansingh, Professor Eudine Barriteau, Pro Vice-Chancellor and it will allow for the collaboration and production of Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, was delighted to note programmes across the spectrum of the university. the integral role played by Cave Hill in the creation of “We can actually harness programmes in Sports the faculty which will have an impact on Caribbean Law, Sports Nutrition, Sports Psychology, Sports development, in line with the mission of The UWI. Management, Sports Tourism, Sports Medicine, the She noted that the current academic and athletic History of Sport and its impact on our society, and programmes at the Cave Hill Academy of Sport will Sports Business. We can collaborate with just about constitute part of the new faculty’s offerings. every department and, certainly, with every faculty “We congratulate Dr. Mansingh on his appointment as across all four of our campuses. Dean of the faculty and pledge our fullest support to “ … in keeping with the ‘One UWI’ mantra, many working with him and all colleagues across our beloved courses would be available across all campuses, university to advance the objectives of this latest and with the inclusion of the Open Campus, will be addition to the Caribbean academy.” available in just about every contributing territory and Amanda Reifer, Head of the Academy of Sport, Cave beyond.” Hill, in highlighting a number of ‘firsts’ for Cave Hill, The faculty will offer courses and qualifications at also welcomed the elevation of the field of sport with the certificate, diploma, undergraduate as well as the establishment of a bona fide faculty. postgraduate levels, with an LLM in Sports Law possibly “All of us at the Academy of Sport commend the being one of the first inter-faculty collaborations. leadership of The UWI for demonstrating, in a major With a new dawn on the horizon, all four campuses of The UWI have embraced the vision. Continued on page 40

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.... Continued from page 39

way, The UWI’s commitment to the development of us to better serve our student-athletes to achieve the a viable sporting industry in the region. The UWI has academic and sporting success that they deserve and stepped into the driver’s seat and taken control of the desire.” wheel to revolutionise and propel regional sport to the Adding its support to that of the older campuses, The highest levels possible.” UWI Open Campus has welcomed the addition of the Professor Archibald McDonald, Pro Vice-Chancellor and new Faculty of Sport. Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal Principal of the Mona Campus, believes the launch of Dr. Luz Longsworth believes the introduction of the the faculty is a major milestone of The UWI, and the new faculty, with its unique structure, is equally as region as a whole, as it formally legitimises sports significant as the move to launch the Open Campus ten education, training and research in the region. years ago. She notes that it highlights the university’s “We also have a long-standing programme in Sports commitment to growth and renewal, as well as Medicine which is renown throughout the region. The to leading social and economic development in the establishment of this new faculty will not only bring all Caribbean. of these initiatives under one unified umbrella, but will “This is a faculty that is virtual and real. It will be also aid us in expanding further into the development everywhere and anywhere that our Caribbean sporting of this field as a legitimate higher education minds, bodies and souls reside … Like all Caribbean programme for potential students, eliminating the people, the Faculty of Sport is born of creativity and need for our students to go elsewhere to further their excellence. It is destined to be the vehicle which will studies and professional development goals in sport.” harmonise, across the 3000 nautical miles of our Meanwhile, Deputy Principal of St Augustine Campus, Caribbean, our tremendous strengths. Professor Rhoda Reddock, was excited about the “It will finally ensure that one of most visible areas of faculty’s potential in developing student-athletes to the excellence is owned, developed, and marketed here in highest international standards. our region for the benefit of our athletes and all of our “Caribbean young people of talent will now have the people.” opportunity to have this development right here at This Faculty of Sport will have gold as its official colour, t home … We know that this development will allow embodying the mantra, “Going for the Gold”.

The Ryan Brathwaite track at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex, Cave Hill Campus

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(l–r) The UWI Mona Team Captains Alicia Richards and Fedrick Dacres receive their winning trophy from Vice- Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles. They came as defending champions and left with their title intact despite a close challenge from their host rivals when the 30th edition of The UWI Inter-Campus Games was held in Barbados 25th May - 1st June. Mona Retains Inter-Campus Title

t the close of the 2017 Games, a two and skills in an atmosphere of friendly points margin saw Mona Campus rivalry from the Games’ kick-off through to Aemerge triumphant. They amassed the closing ceremony held at the Cave Hill 102 points to edge out Cave Hill with 100 Campus. points. St. Augustine closed with 76 points, As he presented the champions’ trophy coming in third place, and The UWI Open during the closing ceremony, UWI Vice- Campus team, which competed only for the Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles second time in the Games’ 52-year history, spoke of the extraordinary work of the earned 18 points. coaches, administrators and the student- Over 500 student-athletes competed in the athletes who contributed to the success biennial sporting tradition, in ten sporting of the event. “These Games are so disciplines: basketball, football, tennis, important to the prestige of our institution swimming, table tennis, track and field, and to the values we associate with higher volleyball, cricket, netball and six-a-side education and the young citizens [whom] hockey. we are preparing to lead this region,” Vice- Chancellor Beckles said. t It is one of the few opportunities where the students get together as one UWI. The tournament, themed “The Making of The next UWI Games will be hosted by the Champions”, saw athletes test their talent Mona Campus in 2019.

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In a year that they dominated several sports played on turf, Cave Hill Blackbirds also sailed into uncharted waters by entering a yacht in the Barbados Sailing Week for the first time. Yachtsmen Nevin Roach, Colville Thompson and Joshua Clarke sailed aboard Oiseau-noir (French for Blackbird) under the command of skipper, Franchero Ellis.

Cave Hill Blackbirds Enter Uncharted Waters

he six-metre Pen Duick 600, a small sail boat that his own learning curve rose steeply with each designed by the renowned French yachtsman, race, as he became more efficient at trimming the TEric Tabarly, and built in 1977, sailed with her sails. original mainsail, a museum relic more than 40 years Despite not finishing on the podium, Cave Hill old. What the captain and crew lacked in marine Blackbirds gained the respect of other competing modernity, they more than made up for with their seafarers placing a respectable joint third on points sailing skills once they hit the ocean. overall in the Coastal Series before the tiebreaker. Oiseau-noir’s small size proved no deterrent to her Oiseau-Noir also performed creditably in the handlers venturing into the deep waters of Trader endurance race of over 60 nautical miles around Bank during the Coastal Series of the regatta, and Barbados, with some of the most challenging her overall competitiveness surprised many as she conditions this year. With shifty winds, gusting above completed all her races. 30 knots, creating wild conditions along the east coast, Navigation was in the hands of Clarke, a social sciences and several squalls on the west coast beating up on the student and racing first-timer, who added “a clear little vessel, her mainsail was ripped in half, forcing step above pre-regatta training”; and Roach remarked the team to consider retiring from the race. After

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reefing the ripped sail to just over half its size, the enchanting sight rendered even more beautiful at night crew continued around North Point even though many as the running lights illuminated the spray in red. A competing yachts started turning back, not willing to series of squalls really put CQS into her element as she brave the tough conditions. peaked at 25.6 knots to quickly leave all competitors Perseverance, along with trust in the skipper’s training behind in the first four hours. At the finish line in and experience, landed them fourth in the double- Antigua just before dawn, Ellis observed that moving handed category and sixteenth overall, an amazing feat from the smallest yacht to the largest of the fleet for such a small vessel. During the gala prize-giving was rather sobering. The 306-mile dash to Antigua ceremony, Cave Hill Blackbirds team received the Spirit had lasted only three hours longer than Oiseau-noir’s of Barbados Sailing Week Award. Ellis and Thompson traverse around Barbados. were then specially invited to complete the Ocean The members of the Blackbirds team were integrated Passage Race to Antigua aboard the Australian super with the permanent crew and trusted to help with maxi yacht, CQS, which had broken the Mount Gay important tasks such as changing CQS’s giant sails Round Barbados Race Absolute Monohull record and while travelling at high speed. Ellis also helped to won the skipper’s weight in Mount Gay Rum. control the massive sails as the backup jib trimmer, a The race to Antigua was a record-shattering 17 hours job not given readily to a newcomer to the vessel. After and 35 minutes, shaving a whopping 10 hours off racing, they did everything with the rest of the crew the previous record. This was no fluke since CQS had from sharing meals, to accommodations, to post-race come from a record-breaking crossing of the Atlantic maintenance in preparation for the 2018 RORC (Royal from the Canary Islands to Grenada, in 11 days and 3 Ocean Racing Club) Caribbean 600 Race. minutes under the command of multiple record-holding Recounting their regatta experience as an exhilarating skipper, Ludde Ingvall. one, the Blackbird mariners said, “Although their CQS started her race two hours behind the other latest venture took place at sea, it seems as if another yachts, and sped along at more than 20 knots. Blackbird sporting endeavour has already taken flight.” Creating an impression that matched the special The UWI (Blackbirds) Sailing Club can be contacted at effects of a Star Wars movie, CQS caused an explosion [email protected]. t of spray whenever her wings touched water - an

(l-r) Yachtsmen Nevin Roach, Colville Thompson Franchero Ellis and Joshua Clarke

CHILL NEWS 43 SPORT

hen hurricanes Irma and Maria swept through the Caribbean last September, with strength of up to Category 5, they left W a trail of devastation in their wake and significant upheaval in the lives of hundreds enrolled at The University of the West Indies. It was a situation tailor-made for the university community to demonstrate its caring and commitment, and which prompted an outpouring of UWI generosity for neighbours from affected territories. Gusts of Goodwill Unleashed after Hurricanes Amid the loss of lives and destruction to homes and other infrastructure, untold psychological damage was done to residents of , Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten/ St. Martin, the , the northern border of , and the south-eastern islands of . The UWI mobilised relief efforts, with donations sites set up at its campuses, while university experts worked in concert with regional Deputy Principal Professor Clive Landis helping to fill Heads of Government and Caribbean a barrel with supplies. Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) teams, assessing the damage to inform the recovery process. Cave Hill took immediate steps to suspend any financial constraints on the accounts of students from affected countries, which prevented them from accessing their academic records and study materials, thus easing their financial situation. Students with outstanding payments were granted the option to defer Students gathering hurricane-relief supplies. these sums for the first semester of the academic year, a provision

44 CHILL NEWS SPORT

that had been offered similarly, in 2015, to students The US$100,000 donated by Sagicor during the event from Dominica when Tropical Storm Erica struck that brought the total raised to US$111,591.18, with the country with widespread impact on the lives and remainder coming from other corporate partners, livelihood of residents there. along with online and cash donations for the As part of fundraising efforts, a Celebrity T20 Cricket rebuilding of schools and hospitals. Hurricane Irma/Maria Relief Benefit match was held in November at the 3Ws Oval, Cave Hill. “The Cave Hill Campus was very pleased to host this The matchup between a Sagicor-UWI Icons XI team fundraising celebrity T20 cricket match in support of and a Prime Ministers’ XI was hosted by The UWI in The UWI’s hurricane relief effort. It was entirely in partnership with platinum sponsor, Sagicor Financial keeping with the immediate response by the campus Corporation, and Flow Sports Premier. community in the aftermath of the hurricanes, which saw households open their homes to students who may not be able to return for the Christmas period and the launch of an Adopt-A-Student Emergency Fund,” said Deputy Principal, Professor Clive Landis, on behalf of The UWI Cave Hill Campus Management Team. In December, when affected students were forced to remain in Barbados due to conditions in their homeland, the campus hosted a Christmas party in their honour to get them into the spirit of the season. With the support of the Optimist Club, the students experienced a fun-filled evening in which they won prizes, received gifts and were treated to varied forms of entertainment. t

CHILL NEWS 45 PARTNERSHIP

Robotics Camp remain in the sciences, and eventually, when they become fully qualified PhD holders and heads Captures Youth Interest of companies and organisations, we want them to come back to the Caribbean and to give back. outh interest in technology diversification of Caribbean We want them to remember the is at an all-time high. economies by harnessing science experience they had, how amazing Some Caribbean intellects and technology, stimulating Y the experience was and we want are turning that passion into a technology-based entrepreneurship, them to create that scenario for marketable skill and, at the same accelerating education reform other students,” said Assistant time, keeping the region in the that supports technology-based Director of the CSF, Lois Oliver. loop with the global technology entrepreneurship and advising revolution. Caribbean governments on scientific In 2017, 48 students took part in the three levels of the month- A leading force behind one such and engineering matters. long Junior Robotics Camp where initiative is the Caribbean Science In pursuit of those objectives, they were introduced to basic Foundation (CSF) which, in the foundation has designed two technology, engineering concepts partnership with The University of programmes: the Barbados Junior and computer programming. the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Robotics Camp (BJRC) which has been tapping into the potential targets the 9 -13 age group; and Much like the BJRC, interest of some of the region’s brightest, the prestigious Student Program continues to grow in the from as young as nine. for Innovation in Science and foundation’s flagship programme, SPISE, with the CSF welcoming its Established as an independent, Engineering (SPISE) for those in largest cohort of students from non-profit, non-governmental the 16 – 18 age category. across 13 Caribbean countries in organisation, with support from “We groom these students, we 2017. the Caribbean Diaspora for Science, keep them on a science or STEM Technology and Innovation, (science, technology, engineering The 24 students who were part the CSF aims to assist with the and mathematics) track so they of the sixth annual SPISE, a far

46 CHILL NEWS PARTNERSHIP cry from the ten who took part At the conclusion of the opportunity to work in business in the inaugural class back in programme, students had the settings and garner real-world 2012, brought the total number of opportunity to showcase their research experience in science and participants over the years to 109. newly developed skills with public engineering. displays of computer programmes, During the annual, four-week, Oliver explained: “As a requirement business plan pitches, underwater residential summer programme, of SPISE, we ask all our graduates robotics and wind energy the regional participants studied to go back to their schools and generation. university-level subjects, including communities and spread the word, the computer programming “The tools were great, the classes and I think the personal experience language, Python; Calculus (Levels were great and the homework that they share motivates their I and II), Physics (Levels I and II), was manageable. To be honest, colleagues and friends. We have Biochemistry, Entrepreneurship, I think it’s good that it’s intense students who would have been Underwater Robotics, Electronics/ because when you’re learning, it's eyeing this programme from the Renewable Energy and Caribbean full immersion rather than doing time they were 12 and 13 years old, Unity. one hour per week,” said Diego so the interest is definitely there. Lascurain, 17. Word is spreading about us, not He, along with Matthew Clarke and just among students but among Shanna Edwards, from Queen’s corporate citizens, and every year, College took part in last year’s we’ve been so fortunate to have instalment of SPISE. Though all our students fully sponsored. he was considering a career in It costs US$6,000 per student to engineering, Lascurain said the attend the programme, and that SPISE programme has sparked his does not include airfare. I think interest in computer science. this speaks to the regard which corporate citizens have for the The programme did the opposite programme, and out of this, we’ve for Jamaican Jason Salmon, 17, been able to place some students in who remains firmly interested in internship positions with some of biomedical engineering. our sponsors.” t “It has been a good experience because I got to meet Professor Cardinal Warde 23 other people from around the Caribbean Their instructors included academic so it was a mixture of and industry professionals from the cultures. At the same United States and faculty from The time, I learnt a lot UWI. from the experience in terms of programming “One of the long-term goals is to because I hadn’t done replicate the camp throughout it before. Biochemistry the Caribbean and to catalyse was quite extensive as the integration of robotics into well,” Salmon said. standard primary and secondary school curricula,” explained SPISE graduates are Professor Cardinal Warde of eligible for internship Massachusetts Institute of positions in the Technology (MIT), who is the Caribbean, Canada Participants at the Robotics Camp interim Executive Director of the and the USA, which CSF. gives them the

CHILL NEWS 47 RESEARCH

ioprospecting - the search for selection process, found that four strains possessed plant and marine bacteria from the best properties for hydrolysis of sugarcane which medicinal drugs and other bagasse. The doctoral candidate also examined co- B cultures produced by combining bacteria and other commercially valuable compounds can be obtained, is showing fungi to determine how to most efficiently hydrolyse sugarcane bagasse for best results. Since then, the promising results for scientists at The bacterial co-cultures with fungi were successfully used University of the West Indies, Cave to hydrolyse brewer’s spent grain (BSG) from Banks Hill Campus. (Barbados) Breweries and rice husks from Guyana. As a result of the scientific discoveries using the sugarcane bagasse, The UWI signed a Memorandum Fuel Research of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Brazil in the hope of developing the research further, Sparks New using the scaled-up plant facilities at the South American university. Professor Tinto Hope for Sugar- said, “This should allow The UWI to seek joint partnerships for the technology developed." cane Industry He noted that Brazil’s success in biomass production is likely to generate funding This has sparked growing optimism in their search for required for expansion of the research. indigenous alternative fuels and medicinal solutions, such as cancer-fighting, natural compounds, that are “Research in how to achieve maximum production of derived from plant and marine-based resources. biofuels and other value-added products is the next logical step in the investigation," said Professor Tinto, Led by Professor of Organic Chemistry, Professor who added that the technology developed can be used Winston Tinto, research into sugarcane bagasse locally or in other countries with large inventories of has led to the discovery of an entirely new species sugarcane bagasse. of bacteria for the production of biomass fuel. This fuel, developed from organic materials, provides a Based on the results, The UWI is seeking collaborations renewable and sustainable source of energy used to with the University of Guyana to create a biorefinery create transportation fuel or other forms of power. that will help in the production of biofuels from multipurpose cane varieties through biomass Along with the newly discovered bacterial species, The conversion; a facility that integrates biomass UWI also employed a methodology developed by PhD conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, candidate, Jamila Jones, which employed four strains of power, heat, and value-added chemicals from biomass. bacteria to hydrolyse sugarcane bagasse. Hydrolysis is the process of breaking down biopolymers to simpler compounds by chemical reaction with water.

Jones’s research is being conducted under the supervision of Professor Tinto who believes that bioprospecting may be an important reason for revitalising Barbados’s sugar industry. However, he suggested that this must be linked to the diversification of the industry into more value-added production, an exercise, he added, which was long overdue.

Jones, who completed undergraduate studies at The Professor Tinto (left) and Jamila Jones conducting scientific UWI and later an MSc degree in Molecular Medical research for new fuel. Microbiology at Nottingham University in the UK, isolated 103 strains of bacteria, and through a Continued on page 50

48 CHILL NEWS RESEARCH Professor Winston leadsTINTO research team on biomass fuel

Renewable energy can be wind energy, solar energy, photovoltaic (which is a form of solar energy), hydrothermal energy, and bioenergy. In the biomass conversion process, lignocellulosic (plant dry matter) biomass, the most abundantly available raw material on the earth for the production of biofuels, may be used in different forms to produce fermentable sugars that can be converted to second-generation biofuels. This can be bioethanol or biobutanol.

Biobutanol is preferred to bioethanol since it can be used as a transportation fuel without having to retrofit the engines. Also, biobutanol does not absorb water to the same extent as the ethanol version. However, the technology to produce biobutanol on an industrial scale is still lagging behind the bioethanol process.

.

CHILL NEWS 49 RESEARCH

... Continued from page 48 made the current strategy feasible. However, he added it would take between three to five years for the “The identification of useful bacterial and fungal research to be consolidated. Tinto has already spent strains can efficiently convert these fibres to two weeks at the Federal University of Mato Grosso fermentable sugars and lignin derivatives which to discuss the way forward. are then converted into commercial products,” said “The whole idea is that, in the case of Brazil, if a good Professor Tinto. process is established, then we can get the chemical With the biorefinery, which is to be located in Guyana, industry to buy into it,” he said. Professor Tinto explained that it would be possible to The Federal University of Mato Grosso is still at the use sugarcane bagasse, brewer’s spent grain and rice stage of base research. Once the operation reaches an husks to convert to biofuels and the lignin monomers. advanced stage, is developed and products created, “The biorefinery would be especially useful for when then The UWI plans to patent its end of the research, sugar is not in production in order to maintain a large as well as create partnerships with Brazil in which volume of biomass, in an operation that would not be some patents will be jointly held by Barbados and labour intensive,” he said. Brazil.

He noted Barbados, with its much smaller land mass With regard to competitiveness, The UWI’s first and less sugarcane, might have a limited amount obligation will be to see to what extent the local of finished grain and not economy can rely less on external much rice husks, while in markets for similar products. Next, Guyana the potential exists it will seek to understand what to incorporate all three by- market potential exists, working products efficiently. In another with countries such as Brazil which sugarcane producing island, already has a large market, as well as Trinidad and Tobago, Tinto European countries such as Germany said, “There was only one which is currently producing alcohol plantation which was planning from sugarcane bagasse. its scientific collaboration with Since the Barbados government has announced plans India but to produce animal feed only." to set up a multipurpose sugar factory, Professor Tinto The sugars produced are mainly glucose and xylose remains optimistic that the factory will be able to make which can be used also in the food and beverage downstream products. industry or fermented to produce alcohol suitable for “A major part of what we are doing will be to generate use in vehicles. On the other hand, lignin (a complex intellectual property (IP) and generate interest organic polymer deposited in the cell walls of many wherever they are located. Some of this technology plants, making them rigid and woody) derivatives is recent and is now being exploited in Germany and can be used to produce degradable plastics and other other EU countries. Since the field has a lot of players, useful bio-materials. The UWI’s aim is to look for unique ways to exploit “The yields are important because this is what whatever we find,” he said. determines if the entire process is economically The initial focus of the energy research project viable. Indeed, the nature of yields can be considered involved bioprospecting for bacteria and fungi from a bottleneck in the whole process and will ultimately sugarcane plantations around the island. A collection determine if it is worth pursuing,” said Tinto. of these cultures has been established and is being A major part of research on biomass conversion systematically investigated for microorganisms that can involves optimising yields in each step of the operation. convert the sugarcane fibre to fermentable sugars for use in biofuel production. t With regard to Brazil, Tinto explained that that country’s large market for sugarcane-derived products

50 CHILL NEWS RESEARCH

Head of the Department of Economics at Cave Hill Campus, Professor Winston Moore, has co-authored a study that has found lower productivity levels at firms owned and managed by females in the Caribbean compared to those operated by their male counterparts.

Professor Winston Moore

he research showed that the level of underperformance Why Female-led Firms Twas approximately 12 percentage points fewer at firms owned by females, while those Underperform managed by women were down about 16 percentage points. “Thirdly, the issue of corruption terms of financing and the size of However, Professor Moore, and governance of institutions the firm, which therefore make International Monetary Fund (IMF) was more likely to be identified them less able to invest in research economist Andrea Presbitero and by female-owned and female- and development (R&D),” Professor Professor Roberta Rabellotti of the managed firms as a significant Moore explained. The main policy University of Pavia, who authored constraint. If you account for the implications of these findings, the study “The Gender Gap in the three key factors mentioned earlier, therefore, are that helping small Caribbean: The Performance of then the so-called productivity businesses to address issues in Women-Led Firms", concluded gap between female-owned and relation to access to finance as well that access to finance, size of female-managed firms disappears as to develop sound institutions the firms, and corruption and altogether. The gap in productivity would lend support to goals in governance were the contributors that is largely reported in the relation to gender equality in the to the lower performance of the international literature is mainly region. female-led enterprises. due to the constraints encountered The study is part of a wider report, “Female-owned and managed firms by these female-owned and Exploring Firm-level Innovation always tend to report that they managed firms.” and Productivity in Developing have issues in relation to access to The authors also found that the Countries: The perspective of finance. What can also explain that financing constraints were affecting Caribbean small states, which is gap, in terms of productivity, is the innovation at the female-owned a collaboration between Compete size. Female-owned and managed and managed firms. Caribbean, the Inter-American firms tend to be a lot smaller and, Development Bank, UK Aid, the as a result, face the challenges that “It isn’t the case that females are Government of Canada and the all small firms face in relation to more risk-averse. It is the case Caribbean Development Bank. t raising financing, penetrating new that female-owned and managed markets and so on,” they noted. firms have these constraints in

CHILL NEWS 51 RESEARCH Indigenous Caribbean Flora among Endangered Species

A groundbreaking study has unearthed that out of every ten flowering plants unique to the Eastern Caribbean, seven are at risk of becoming extinct.

his was one of the major findings of a collaborative Tresearch project by Professor Sean Carrington of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, and Drs. Gary Krupnick and Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The study published in Botanical Professor Sean Carrington Review, a leading international journal, established that nearly specimens of each species in time three quarters of the flowering and space. This method was plant life found only in the Eastern developed at the Smithsonian Caribbean, a region regarded as a Institution to analyse the flora of biodiversity hotspot and therefore the Hawaiian Islands, but is widely a priority area for conservation applicable to other island groups. action, appeared to be under threat of disappearing from Earth. The second method used criteria developed for the International The scientists looked at the 262 Union for Conservation of Nature species of flowering plants and one (IUCN) Red List assessments, such gymnosperm that are found only as geographic range, as well as in the Lesser Antilles, the group of changes in plant abundance, plant islands stretching from Grenada, in distribution and habitat quality over the south to Anguilla, in the north. time. Plants like these, known only to occur in a particular region, are Both methods led to the same said to be endemic to that region. conclusion - that 70 percent of the 263 Lesser Antillean endemic plants The study used two distinct are at risk of extinction. methods to assess the status of the plants. One applied an algorithm “Sadly, twenty-one species have Psychilis kranz that analysed the number of not been collected for at least a

52 CHILL NEWS RESEARCH

100 years and are quite likely to and 1995 respectively, and may defines the region as a biodiversity be extinct already,” the scientists well be extinct. hotspot. summarised. “The study has provided much- “The lack of equivalent terrestrial They noted: “Many other species needed information on each protected areas is of even greater occur only on one island (32 species which will allow scientists concern considering that the percent), and some at just one and conservation managers Caribbean is top-ranked among site, putting them at extreme throughout the region to focus hotspots for likely, future plant risk of imminent extinction. In their attention on the plants under extinctions,” they stated. fact, two species known only greatest threat to safeguard their from single volcanic sites on St. future existence and their potential Vincent and Montserrat have not unexplored value.” The scientists noted that plants are been recollected since the volcanic The total flora of the Lesser the cornerstone of life on Earth eruptions on these islands in 1979 Antilles represents nearly ten times and provide not only oxygen, food, the number of plants studied, but fuel, medicine, timber and other those 263 were a priority for study essentials, but play critical roles in as they are found nowhere else climate regulation and ecosystem on Earth and need to be a focus maintenance. for conservation, the researchers The researchers gathered and explained. analysed data from almost 7,000 Disappearance of this indigenous preserved specimens collected over plant life was attributed to the last 240 years. agricultural expansion, residential “This innovative approach was less and commercial development, labour-intensive and more cost- tourism and other upscale leisure effective than embarking on full- amenities which account for the scale field studies of the different loss or reduction of some of the species across the 16 countries and region’s ecosystems and unique territories that are home to these Lobelia brigitallis micro-habitats. The scientists plants.” they noted. warned that climate change, “Even so, with these preserved especially global warming and plant specimens housed in 11 projected declines in annual herbaria (museums for plant precipitation, is expected to have collections) across the Caribbean, a further impact on the fragility the USA and Europe, this was still a of these ecosystems. In addition, challenging task.” projected rises in sea level will likely cause islanders to relocate Prior to this study, only 14 of the from low-lying areas to what 263 Lesser Antillean endemic plants are relatively undisturbed, higher had been assessed for the IUCN areas inland where many of these Red List, a register of the world's endemic plants are found. endangered species of plants and animals. This meant that the They observed that Caribbean conservation status of only a small marine protected areas greatly minority of these unique plants exceed terrestrial ones, both in was previously known, a situation area and number, although the remedied by this research. t Peperomia terrestrial biodiversity is what

CHILL NEWS 53 RESEARCH

One in Three will Fail or Quit A pioneering study has found that up to 33 percent of the children in secondary schools across the Eastern Caribbean are at risk of either dropping out or failing.

Dr. Verna Knight

he report, co-authored by Lecturer in Social children of primary school age and are enrolled but Studies Education in the School of Education, are at risk of dropping out or failing; and those of Dr. Verna Knight, and Director of the School secondary school age who are enrolled but were also of Education, Dr. Babalola Ogunkola, also at risk of dropping out or failing. Tconcluded that 17 percent or just over 1,700 children The researchers found that 0.5 percent of children at the primary level faced similar risks. of preschool age (4+ years) were out of school The 2017 study, “Global Initiative on Out of School completely, while this stood at 1.4 percent (840) for Children: Eastern Caribbean", was supported by the primary school children and 3.3 percent (over 1,000) United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and Argentinian for those of secondary school age. NGO Asociación Civil Educación para Todos. “When we dug a little deeper into the notion of It analysed information on enrolment by age, grade, potential exclusion, we saw that the exclusion begins repeaters, dropouts and graduates from early as early as kindergarten. For example, when you look childhood (4 years) and primary and secondary levels at the region, we saw 8 percent of the students were using data collected from administrative data units in at least one year behind at kindergarten level. We ministries of education in Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, saw this increase to 11 percent at grade one level, 13 Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the percent at grade two level and 17 percent at grade Grenadines and the Turks & Caicos Islands for the three level. By the time we got to form five, it was 38 periods 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. percent. The study centred on a framework designed by UNICEF and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics that highlighted two general categories for exclusion: present or total exclusion (children who are out of school); and potential or partial exclusion (children who are enrolled in school but not engaged at the school level). This was then divided into five dimensions of exclusion: children of early childhood age who are not in the school system; children who are of primary school age but are not in school; children of secondary school age but were not enrolled in primary or secondary school; Replace this with the students

54 CHILL NEWS RESEARCH

This shows us that the problem is identifiable at the and into fifth form levels, where it seems to widen, kindergarten level but, when they’re not addressed, then there’s need to bring those teachers together to it’s very difficult for those children to improve,” Dr. ensure that their training and professional development Knight said. are really addressed,” Dr. Knight stated. The resultant effect was students starting to drop out “Half of the teachers were untrained to begin with. of school as early as first form due to their inability to Less than 50 percent of the secondary school teachers cope. The study also concluded that boys were twice across the region are certified as trained; so they as impacted as girls, with repetition and drop-out were untrained and there were these students rates for boys standing at 8 percent and 6 percent coming in who couldn’t read, couldn’t write and they respectively. still had to teach them Principles of Business, Social While data for the five-year period for the same Studies, History,[that is], the same curriculum. The cohort of males and females was absent, the scholars performance level of the students began to fall in the examined the number of students enrolled in first subject areas and the teachers blamed the children form compared to the number of them in fifth form, and said ‘those students don’t belong here, they need noting an overall 24 percent decline. to be kept in the same primary school or sent to a different type of secondary school or something’. It got “There was a 15 percent loss for girls between first so bad that some teachers don’t want to teach low- and fifth form compared to 32 percent for the boys. performing students and the children were separated This shows that the boys are most impacted by this based on ability. What we found was that once the exclusion, the first to drop out, most represented students went into a particular stream (classes based in the repetition classes, the suspension list, with on abilities), they continued in that stream throughout discipline issues,” Dr. Knight indicated. the entire schooling period, which has implications for their motivation, self-confidence and self-esteem.” Following a review of recently conducted empirical An exhaustive list of recommendations has been put studies, the researchers arrived at 12 barriers to forward to remedy the deficiencies, including: school potential exclusion, which were later narrowed down outreach to parents; the development of stronger to five, following consultation workshops with key partnerships with families; the facilitation of parent interest groups in each country. orientation sessions so they could better understand The main problems were inadequate support for their roles; parenting classes; and more home visits by struggling learners, inadequate special needs trained counsellors and teachers. provisions, negative teacher attitude towards Additionally, the researchers suggest innovative changes academically weak students, weak academic to classroom instruction methods and the use of performance and participation of boys and low teaching aids at primary and secondary school levels for parental engagement and involvement in children’s children with problems learning. education. For teachers with a negative attitude towards While the latter (low parental engagement and academically weak students, they believe: professional involvement in children’s education) did not emerge as support should be provided, targeting problem areas; a factor at the early childhood level, did. mentorship should be provided for younger teachers; “It wasn’t a surprise to find that teachers were bridging programmes should be introduced to support reluctant to teach ‘weak’ students at the secondary children in the transition from primary to secondary level, but when we saw it emerging at the primary school level; and targeted support was needed for level and the early childhood level too it became children who repeat a class level. t a greater concern. If we are saying that potential exclusion begins at kindergarten level, where we begin to see the gaps, and this continues at primary school

CHILL NEWS 55 STUDENT-CENTRED

headquarters of the British Royal Family just months before he attained his Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. In Britain, Alleyne worked alongside the Master’s Department within the Royal Kitchens, the front-of- house and housekeeping sections to deliver a number of events.

“It was a wonderful experience. I totally enjoyed my time spent there. You could be asked to cater for functions, look after garden parties or escort guests around the palace. No two days were ever the same. Even though you were assigned to the same area, your roles were completely different every day and this made the experience even more enjoyable,” he recalled.

LIVING A DREAM He, like other scholarship recipients from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, worked weekdays and used the weekends to explore the palace and wider London. Jonathan Alleyne Alleyne, who also has an Associate Degree in Hospitality Studies from the Barbados Community College and interned at the Sandy Lane Hotel and the Tree House Thanks to a royal experience, Club, almost missed out on the opportunity to apply for the scholarship. He was hesitant, thinking that he 22-year-old Johnathan Alleyne’s big did not have a chance at the award announced by His dreams for himself and Barbados Royal Highness, Prince Henry of Wales, as eligible to one citizen from each of nine Commonwealth countries are already magnified. from May to June 2017. However, after being prompted by a former tutor at the Barbados Community College, aving completed a six-week stint at Buckingham who had initially encouraged him to apply, Alleyne Palace and Windsor Castle in Britain last June submitted his application form, later receiving news of as a recipient of the Royal Household Hospitality H his acceptance by checking his emails while on campus Scholarship, he no longer aspires simply to oversee a preparing for a test. tourism industry service. Rather, he is now focused on management of more expansive tourism projects. The 2014 winner of an Emerging Leaders of the Americas Programme Scholarship, which had taken He had the change of heart after benefiting from an him to the St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario, enviable experience at the residence and administrative

56 CHILL NEWS STUDENT-CENTRED

Canada, departed the island on Mother’s Day, barely “I liken the conversation with the Queen to having a having time for lunch with his mum, Lisa Alleyne, the conversation with my grandmother because she is a Bursar for the Cave Hill Campus, before setting off for very caring individual. I told her about some of the this new adventure. places that I have worked before and she commented “I arrived in London at six o’clock the next morning. that, though that is really good, I need to keep going. I was actually one of the first to get in and we had Prince Charles actually got my jokes and I was able to orientation that same day. We pretty much got interact with him for an even longer period than the uniforms the next day and started what immediately other scholars because I got to work with his team for turned out to be an amazing experience. I don’t think a while. One day, in the middle of June, we had the there are any words I can use to actually describe it. I hottest temperatures in the United Kingdom in about just think it was an amazing experience.” 50 years - even hotter than Barbados. Prince Charles came up to me and asked me what I thought about Not only did he meet leading members of the the temperature and I informed him that it was hotter Royal Family, but he also had “inspiring and lively that day than back home.” conversations" with the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince Harry during his stay at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Not surprisingly, Johnathan indicates that he would welcome any opportunity to be part of the staff at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

Now pursuing a Master’s Degree in Project Management and Evaluation, and treasurer of the Cave Hill Association of Postgraduate Students (CHAPS), he is advising young Barbadians to apply for the hospitality scholarship or any opportunity that would help them improve. “You never know where it could take you and it Jonathan Alleyne (right) and Jamaican is important to do what makes you happy while colleague Rusheda Brown trying to stay out of trouble. There are ways to do things. There is the quick way which quite often gets you into trouble. I try to stay out of trouble so I tend to go the long way” he said. “Prince Harry is an extremely down-to-earth person. “Before I wanted to run and manage a hotel, or even Conversing with him felt like having a conversation run and manage an airline or ferry service. But now I with one of my own friends. He commented on my age think I just want to focus on tourism projects because, and the fact that I look very young. When he found out here in Barbados, tourism is our main industry and we that I had just turned 22 about a week before I left rely heavily on it. So, I really want to turn Barbados [Barbados], he commented on the fact that I was the into a state where we can have a lot more successful youngest of the scholars. When he heard that I had tourism projects which is the only way we can earn just finished my bachelor’s [degree], he was surprised more foreign exchange.” t and encouraged me to keep going,” he said.

CHILL NEWS 57 IN FOCUS

Spurring this transformation is the establishment, Creating a in March 2017, of an association at Cave Hill to raise awareness and advocate on behalf of people living with disabilities; a move, it is hoped, that will be replicated Welcoming across all University of the West Indies' campuses. The launch of the University of the West Indies Environment Cave Hill Association for Persons with Disabilities (UWICAPD) coincided with the annual observance of for Students Month of the Disabled and is the brainchild of Miranda Blackman, now a final-year student in the Faculty of with Disabilities Science & Technology. Explaining that the association was conceptualised based on her experiences and those of fellow n inclusive environment that students with disabilities, Blackman has committed Aespecially caters for students to working with the university to ensure that the with disabilities is earmarked mandate outlined in the campus’s disability policy and the objectives of the association are achieved. She to become a prominent feature remains driven by a singular focus to ensure that the of the region’s higher education association’s efforts and influence do not wither after she has exited Cave Hill for the next stage of her life’s landscape. journey. “We are excited to carry our mission, which is to empower and educate through initiatives and innovations,” said Blackman, a passionate advocate, who envisions equality as well as equity for persons with disabilities. “Some of the objectives of UWICAPD are: to encourage, between educators and the general public, such united efforts as will secure every student with a disability the highest advantages academically, physically, socially and spiritually; to educate and promote empowerment among members; to keep members and other students informed of modern methods and developments in the field of education as it relates to disabilities and [the rights of the disabled]; to promote closer cooperation between administration of The University of the West Indies Cave Hill and students with disabilities.” In 2014, the campus adopted The UWI Cave Hill Student Disability Policy and later introduced its “Procedure for Implementing Accommodations for Students with Disabilities”, a document setting out

(l-r) President of UWICAPD, Miranda Blackman chats with Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Maxine McClean and Principal Professor Eudine Barriteau.

58 CHILL NEWS IN FOCUS systems to ensure that students with disabilities enjoy towards making Cave Hill a comfortable environment the same level of access to all aspects of university for the differently abled, but admits that much more life, as their fellow students, without fear of remains to be done. disadvantage or discrimination. “We will not rest on our laurels,” the Principal pledged. “You have a right to be treated without discrimination “We will continue to closely monitor our learning and on the basis of race, creed, nationality, sex, disability leisure environment to ensure that, over time, all or place of origin; you have a right to have academic impediments to their progress are removed.” materials in classrooms, libraries and laboratories presented in a format which you can access; you She noted that in spite of the campus annually have a right to be examined in a format that is not observing the United Nations’ International Day disadvantageous to you; you have the responsibility of Persons with Disabilities, and making several to attend classes and undertake the coursework special provisions for students with disabilities, this necessary for the successful completion of your information has not filtered throughout the local and studies,” Blackman said in a message to fellow regional communities as widely as was hoped. students. “… perhaps that lack of widespread knowledge has kept away some prospective students with the aptitude and ability to achieve excellence in higher education, in spite of their challenges,” Professor Barriteau stated. The campus currently provides special accommodation to students with visual impairment, hearing impairment, paraplegia and dyslexia, among other disabilities, and has been making efforts to address the needs of persons with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder or who experience other learning challenges. Support has also been rendered by providing assistive devices and specialised furniture, and retrofitting campus infrastructure such as bathrooms, sidewalks and walkways. Principal Barriteau noted, “A reluctance to disclose their need for special assistance may be hampering some members of the differently-abled community from accessing the service to which they are

... entitled.” However, she stressed that “the campus intends to work with UWICAPD to overcome this in order to properly serve all students.”

The association hopes to receive firm support from all She appealed for assistance with the sponsorship quarters within The UWI, including the academic staff of an advanced Braille tutor to supplement the Braille where it has already found in its faculty advisor, Dr. classes offered through the Office of Student Services’ Colin Depradine, a sterling champion and committed Vision and Fortitude programme, and revealed that activist for the differently abled. the campus is exploring the offer of Caribbean Sign Language as a co-curricular course. t Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor Eudine Barriteau acknowledges that the campus has made some strides

CHILL NEWS 59 STUDENT-CENTRED

A Caribbean experience promises an unparalleled encounter of envy for residents of Nordic and Scandinavian countries, and with the added allure of Cave Hill’s academic brand, many young citizens from that European region have been seizing the chance to live and study in Barbados. Finns Keep Coming Finnish student Arttu Perrello

n this regard, Cave Hill Campus and the Laurea University of will be an actual company which Applied Sciences, Finland, are I has a real problem. Maybe its continuing to deepen their long- marketing and communication existing alliance which, among other plan is not working and it needs a things, provides for an exchange of new one. The professor will give students. an introduction of the module in a Conrad Lyaruu, Planning Officer, classroom of around 35 students International Affairs at Laurea maximum. After that, the students University, reaffirmed Finnish will be placed in groups of a commitment to the agreement minimum of three and maximum during a recent site visit at Cave Conrad Lyaruu, Planning Officer, seven. We don’t tell the students Hill. He sees the arrangement as International Affairs, Laurea University ‘go and read this theory’. The a win-win for students from both theory has to be found by the regions as they gain exposure which is the reason why we think students because we are trying to to vastly different cultures and this cooperation is great,” Lyaruu get our students to understand how pedagogical styles. said. “They sit in a classroom or to solve a problem if they’re really Exposure to complementary auditorium and listen to a professor working in a company.” teaching and learning styles has teach. That’s a dream come During the period, the students helped to enrich the student through. We believe in learning by are allowed to organise personal experience through a balance of doing while Cave Hill develops the meetings with professors and practical application and theory- theoretical and traditional … and deliver presentations, with the based, traditional pedagogy. this is really a great complement for professors/lecturers providing the “The [Finnish] students have been an exchange programme. required guidance. very happy in terms of their studies “If it’s a marketing and “As another example, our here. It’s something new to them communication module, there hospitality management students

60 CHILL NEWS STUDENT-CENTRED are the ones running our student little bit cheaper,” said Lyaruu, meet with them and we evaluate cafeteria. So they would go to who disclosed he was working them. We have a three-level the class, do the theoretical to remedy the situation of evaluation system. They would introduction, then they would go to unaffordability. apply and evaluate themselves; the real kitchen where they have to “We have some grants from the we receive the applications and act as if they’re working in Hilton European Union and that has we check the students through hotel or wherever. They make the helped a bit to facilitate this lecturers; then we interview the food, serve the food and have to programme. We already have students. Every year, I have about evaluate themselves. If they want one student from here [Cave Hill] ten to fifteen students who want to to experience à la carte, we have à and we’re hoping for more in the come to Barbados. A maximum of la carte restaurants for everybody future. From our university to Cave three can come here at one time. – both students and lecturers.” Hill, there has been an influx of Some of them have not travelled students, endless, because Nordic very much, and [for] coming to Barbados, they would need to have With an enrolment of students love to go to sunny places, a level of awareness of what’s approximately 8,000 students, each and for us, it’s just very important happening in the world, not only classroom providing for between 25 that our students are exposed to the European area.” and 40 students, Laurea University different cultures and different of Applied Sciences provides a great learning methodologies. In Finland, Based on feedback, Finnish students learning opportunity for Cave Hill they have a lot of opportunities have largely enjoyed themselves students. to challenge the teachers, which at Cave Hill, and have given rave is allowed. However, everybody review on their return home. However, while Finnish students must observe a certain level of have been eagerly taking up Seeking to maximise the current behaviour. So, when we send the opportunity to further their scholarship arrangement which them to countries like Barbados or education in Barbados, their local facilitates student, lecturer and South Africa, Chile, or even counterparts have not shown staff exchanges, Lyaruu has pledged Germany, it’s very common that the similar enthusiasm, owing to a commitment to ensuring that both professor is listened to courteously prohibitive costs. Lyaruu is keen to universities derive mutual benefit and discussions are held with a see on par reciprocity. from their complementary systems, high level of discipline, because if and also to staging joint activities. t you question your professor too The planning officer estimated much, it may be construed as rude that it could cost regional students in some cases around € 5,000 a semester to study and cultures.” at his Finnish university. Lyaruu also “I think the biggest challenge is explained that finance. The other constraint, Finnish applicants I believe, is marketing the undergo a exchange programme. I think rigorous there are people who can afford screening process it because if they can pay US $300 before going per month for accommodation abroad. here, it’s very possible they can manage accommodation at two “We don’t send of our campuses that are a little everyone who bit further away – about 54 applies to go to and 60 kilometres away from Barbados. Before Finnish student Emilia Karjalainen the city centre – which are a they visit, we

CHILL NEWS 61 STUDENT-CENTRED

internship would be beneficial to law students. Firstly, it will critically define what constitutes an internship. Secondly, it will espouse the importance of interning under the management of a law firm. Thirdly, it will discuss the far- reaching goals that are achievable under the guidance of a judge and legal administrative staff. Fourthly, it will outline the benefits of applying the principles of law and theory to the practice of law in an internship setting. Fifthly, it will examine the utilisation of the Law Student fundamentals of legal research in the criminal justice system. Sixthly, Argues Benefits it will describe the importance of honing excellent legal writing of Judicial skills, which is greatly needed as a law student and throughout Internships one’s career. Finally, it will outline the significance of utilising this experience to assists students in By Rennette M. Dimmott deciding on their preferred area of law, upon completion of their degrees. critical feature of research for the month” in which Firstly, an internship is a specialised student life is gaining the intern is present. He further period of job training geared exposure to the world of noted that students will also attend towards facilitating a practical work. This often enables court hearings. They will add to experience in a professional studentsA to better assimilate the the training opportunities students working environment. It is theories and concepts being taught. currently enjoy by interning in local extremely beneficial in more This practice is as valuable in the legal chambers. than one regard and is highly legal environment as other spheres As the proud winner of the Faculty recommended. A legal internship is of industry. A Memorandum of of Law Constitutional Law a specialised area of legal training, th Understanding signed on 7 July Reform Essay Competition for designed to expose law students 2017 by Chief Justice of Barbados, 2017, I was given the opportunity to the legal framework of the Sir Marston Gibson, and Principal to intern with a reputable law law. It will provide hands-on and of The UWI Cave Hill Campus, firm in summer, 2017. I strongly first-hand experience from all Professor Eudine Barriteau, will believe that this experience was perspectives. give students further insight into an invaluable one and will use Secondly, interning under the regional jurisprudence. As noted the benefits of that experience management of a law firm will by Sir Marston, “these internships to explain the significance of provide invaluable experience will assist judges, the registrar interning. This article will critically and facilitate an environment for and the masters of the court with examine the reasons why a legal learning. It is critical to be exposed

62 CHILL NEWS STUDENT-CENTRED to all areas of the firm since the be exposed to how submissions give students the platform to hone experience can be beneficial in are delivered in the courtroom their research skills. the long term for new attorneys from both legal teams and will be Sixthly, having excellent legal who wish to establish their own better equipped to handle their writing skills is also critical as a practice. It exposes the student to submissions when they become law student, as an attorney-at- the law and administrative aspects practising attorneys. Also, students law, and throughout the judicial of legal work, and it can encourage will come into contact with a system. Students will be placed the student to apply the principles cadre of attorneys who will be in a position to utilise these skills of law to any case law assignments. working on different cases, thereby on a daily basis. They can be Also, early exposure and a clear familiarising themselves with their called upon several times to write understanding of what every legal team, legal terminology, legal memoranda and formulate other person does in any law practice arguments and other aspects of legal documents relevant to the can serve as a precursor to a the law. Moreover, interning will area of law. Being able to write potential practice when individuals allow for valuable networking effectively and efficiently, leaving become attorneys. It will create an which is necessary for building a lasting impression, will definitely opportunity to be surrounded by positive future relationships among be admired by those in the legal attorneys; some recent and some peers. Overall, all of this will fraternity. who have been in the profession facilitate a greater dialogue and Lastly, interning will expose for a long time; but nevertheless, communication for all involved. students to different aspects of all working under the same legal the law, thereby helping them to system to meet the firm’s legal Fourthly, students will be able to decide on the area of law that they practice goals. apply the theoretical knowledge of the principles of law rather pursue. This is absolutely to the practical aspect important to students because they since internship provides need to know their area of interest the opportunity to apply early in their chosen career in order the learning of the law to assess, plan, implement, and that was articulated and evaluate their progress. This would mastered in the classroom. also assist in shaping their future by Additionally, it creates a focusing on relevant courses. teaching environment for This article provided an overview students to ask questions of the benefits of interning in a to facilitate the correct law firm, under the guidance of application of the law and a judge and legal administrative will encourage them to staff. It examined the principles (l-r) A law student listens attentively to Director of PAHO apply key concepts in the of applying the law to the practice Dr. Carissa Etienne who delivered a lecture on law administration of justice. in an internship setting, discussed and public health at Cave Hill last October. Dr. Etienne the utilisation of the fundamentals urged the need for greater legal acquaintance and legal Fifthly, the utilisation advocacy on public health issues. of using research and effective of the fundamentals of writing skills that were honed Thirdly, working closely with a research in every aspect of the in the classroom, outlined the judge will facilitate guidance and law is extremely important. Legal valuable experience of networking, allow students to achieve short- research is the process through and emphasised the importance term and long-term goals. It will which one finds the law, statutes of early exposure which would expose them to the management, and academic opinions. Students assist students with deciding on culture, style and day-to-day will be engaged in research to find their areas of interest in law. It administration of the law courts the relevant case law to the legal discussed the overall benefits of in which the judge presides. They issues that are being argued. A judicial internships. t will observe court proceedings, judicial internship will therefore

CHILL NEWS 63 STUDENT-CENTRED

4. How would you describe your Barbados experience?

I still think about Barbados every day. I think about the green monkeys scampering in the trees and along the sidewalks. I think about riding the ZRs and walking down Swan Street in Bridgetown. I imagine myself back at Crane Beach and Boscobelle and beside the crashing waves in St. Lucy. I miss the catamarans cruising at sunset, the insect International sounds of the night, and my alarm clock of either rooster calls or cricket bats in the Student morning. And I will never forget the gracious Bajans who were patient with an American who didn’t know what he was doing at the bank or the bus stop. I really do think about Russell Nicholson Barbados every day. on Life in Barbados 5. Did you have an opportunity to explore the island? departments both counted toward my major 1. How did you find out about the I explored the heck out of Bimshire! and were unique courses not offered at Student Exchange Programme? Sometimes with Bajans from class, more my college. The natural wonders of the often with other exchange students; and a I first heard about The University of the island were also a big selling point for me. few times on my own, I rode the buses to a West Indies when my home institution, Considering my love for music and dancing destination in just about every parish. Haverford College in Pennsylvania, too, I didn’t want to entertain studying advertised UWI as its “Study Abroad anywhere other than at Cave Hill. 6. What are some of the places you Program of the Month”. A few other visited? 3. How would you describe your Haverford students had studied in Barbados Highlights from adventuring were Cave Hill experience? before me, so I heard more about the snorkelling the reefs at Folkstone Marine opportunities provided by the program There are so many aspects of my Park, hiking in the Chalky Mount district, through them. One of them in particular, experience that made it memorable: the eye- the 2012 Haverford graduate, Lindsay opening courses; the new cultural events; Ryan, played football (what we call “soccer” wildlife all around me (we don’t have mango in the States but being in the Caribbean trees outside of our halls at Haverford). But has changed what I call it) during UWI the experience was absolutely made by the Games, and in an email, she inspired me classmates, hallmates, and teammates that by writing, “It was a ton of fun meeting other I met. I don’t think I have ever met students people from the Jamaican and Trinidadian so concerned with making the world better, campuses.” hall residents so caring, and athletes having 2. Why did you choose the Cave Hill so much fun playing their sport than I met Campus? at Cave Hill. This doesn’t even include the professors, coaches and staff who looked After learning about it, UWI Cave Hill was after me and brought the best out of me. an obvious choice because I am interested There are too many people and too many in marine biology, I love playing football, and good times with them in my mind to write I love adventuring. I am majoring in biology, about all of them; but in all, their company so courses in the ecology and sport science completed my Cave Hill experience.

64 CHILL NEWS STUDENT-CENTRED

and spelunking through the lesser-known course at UWI’s Centre for Resource get dressed up for a fete … most weekend Coles Cave. Classmates of mine from Management and Environmental Studies nights had one. All I had to do was ask Coral Reef Ecology invited me to a picnic (CERMES). It was truly a privilege and an around and follow the sound of the music. in Holetown, and we had a blast taking honor to play with the island’s best in the 10. Would you recommend the underwater group pictures and swimming Digicel Premiere League, and I still catch Student Exchange Programme to other over deep coral drop-offs. Two exchange myself saying, “Leh we go!”, or “Hard students? students from the and another luck!” when I am playing on the Haverford from the States followed me to Morgan varsity team. The Halls Pageant, although Of course! I would especially recommend Lewis Beach on the East Coast - a trip that overwhelming at times with long dress the Student Exchange Programme to ended up being less of a hike and more of a rehearsals and hours of planning, turned out other students who are not afraid to jump desperate search back to civilization (which to be the capstone of my time on Sherlock into a very new experience, freely accept we found in the form of a friendly rum shop Hall. (My friends at Haverford still ask the customs of a new place, and befriend and dominoes). Coles Cave, a half-mile me about the “James Bond” photoshoot another student even if they talk too quickly underground river lined with pure clay and pictures I took for the pageant.) And the for you to understand at first. We all have slavery-era artifacts, is Barbados’s best- highlight of the CERMES course, taught so much to learn from each other, and kept secret. I encourage Mrs. Paula Jarvis by the brilliant Hazel Oxenford, was the UWI Cave Hill is an expansive blend of to keep sending her exchange students fieldwork with a local fisherman – this cultures from which I learnt more about the there. further encouraged me to pursue marine Caribbean and beyond, each and every science as a profession. t 7. Have you noticed any differences day. between your campus and Cave Hill? 9. Can you describe your typical day on campus? Almost all of the students attending Haverford live in dormitories on campus; so, “Cockle-doodle-doo!” That was usually although we are more likely to have friends the first thing of the day I heard, since one from different departments, there isn’t as rooster loved to position himself right below strong a bond between hallmates as among my window each morning; but I learned to the family of students remaining on campus love this wake-up call. I’d then make a fried in Phillip Sherlock Hall at UWI. Worrellites plantain and egg breakfast or savour the can say what they like, but sharing a sweet, cinnamon-flavoured, Jamaican-style bathroom and kitchen among all my porridge at the cafeteria. If I wasn’t learning brothers and sisters on my floor brought me about coral polyp anatomy or conducting very close to them as lifetime friends. Cave our reef research down at Brownes Beach, I Hill also takes great pride in its Student was enjoying an International Environmental Guild, which is equivalent to my campus’s Politics lecture by Kristina Hinds-Harrison. Student Council, except I believe the Guild I don’t normally like normal lecture classes, and its members go above and beyond to but she spoke vividly about the problems provide for the student body with sponsored she sees in the world and, more locally, fetes and services that the administration at in Barbados; so I was wired awake even Haverford would control. after eating a big TNT Barbecue lunch. If I had time after class before football 8. What are some of the practice, I’d take a van into town and pick extracurricular activities you got up some fish for dinner. The mackerel and involved in while you were here? flying fish dinners I made, with some help I played on the UWI Blackbirds men’s from Sherlockites, were some of the best football team, participated in the Halls seafood meals I’ve ever had. Finally, if I Pageant, and audited a fisheries biology was in a good place with schoolwork, I’d

CHILL NEWS 65

PUBLICATIONS Book Review Coping with Campus Life By Krystal Penny Bowen

wenty-seven-year-old Jelani Payne gives a voice to one of the most misunderstood generations of Tthis era. He is one of the few active, millennial, regional writers narrating his story about his trials and triumphs of college/university life. In the 11 chapters of his book, Survive, Thrive and Stay Alive in College – A Matter of Perspective, Payne takes his readers on a personal journey of student life at The University of West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad. A Barbadian in an unfamiliar island, he quickly learns how to adapt to diverse cultures and develop effective social coping mechanisms to overcome daily obstacles. The book, which is separated into three sections (survive, strive and staying alive), examines some challenges of university life, dealing with lecturers and students, examinations and adapting to a new environment. The author seeks to illustrate the power of managing one’s circumstances, whether good or bad, through positive thinking and building strong social networks within the tertiary education system and beyond. Jelani Payne

"[University] is someplace that you give a lot to. You what he terms AP+ and OP+ or open and abundant should give a lot more of yourself on campus, that perspective philosophies. Strong-headed persons or is the striving part," explained Payne, who studied those resistant to new thought may find the book hard Mechanical Engineering and the AAS Electronics & to follow. Unlike other college/university guides, it is Computer Engineering. He has also worked in several not a guide on what you should not do. areas such as: heating, ventilation and air-conditioning; submersibles and marine management; and is presently In his book, the millennial audience will be able to in the field of energy management solutions. identify with Payne's personality traits as he displayed openness, diversity, a determined work ethic and a Payne’s brief guide to navigating campus life foregoes hopeful outlook. It is a book of life's ironies, achieving instructions on managing workload, social and personal maturity and understanding, as well as a view into the life outside of the classroom, overcoming adversity and world of a young man preparing to embrace his future, failure, like other college manuals. Instead, he employs regardless of its hurdles.

Continued on page 69

66 CHILL NEWS

PUBLICATIONS

Book Review

Philip Nanton’s Frontiers of the Caribbean A review by Bridget Brereton Philip Nanton

Born in St. Vincent and the Drawing on history, geography, on the impact and meaning of Grenadines (SVG) and Barbados- biography, literary studies, as well globalisation. It might help the shift based, Philip Nanton is a poet, as social and cultural analysis, away from “nationalist” history social scientist, literary scholar Frontiers of the Caribbean is very and analysis, and also challenge and all-round multimedia much a multidisciplinary study. Using the notion, so strong in postcolonial practitioner. His earlier book, the idea of “frontier society” as his theory, that everything that happens Island Voices from St Christopher framework, Nanton closely examines in the Caribbean is speaking back to & The Barracudas (2014), is a SVG, “an under- researched, multi- the Empire. witty, affectionate and often island, Caribbean society”. (He is Though complex, this is a short laugh-out-loud, funny collection right, of course, that the smaller book; so I can only give a couple of dialogues and sketches about Caribbean islands have received life in SVG (lightly disguised in the much less scholarly attention than Continued on page 68 book’s title). larger islands such as Jamaica or Trinidad.)

anton’s new book, Frontiers By “frontier”, Nanton means a of the Caribbean, is a more society on the edge, at the meeting academic book but it is a place between what is seen as N “civilised” (order, calm, control) and highly original and unconventional study of SVG, past and present. It what is seen as “wild” (disorder, reflects Nanton’s personal journey anarchy). The frontier advances, away from formal social scientific extending the reach of the “civilised” methods to the use of forms of at the expense of the “wild”. He creative expression for social argues that the frontier process analysis, as is the case in Island never ended in the Caribbean, Voices; some of Nanton’s poems and has left significant traces in appear in the Frontiers of the present-day SVG society. In his Caribbean, as well as one by the view, the concept can help us to re- Vincentian jazz musician and poet, imagine the Caribbean and how its Shake Keane. trajectory can contribute to debates

CHILL NEWS 67 PUBLICATIONS

... continued from page 67

of illustrations of how Nanton largely self-sufficient (farming, apparently came out too late to seeks to link the SVG society to fishing, seafaring). Canouan, for be included; Nanton’s take on this his frontier idea. He examines a instance, had no electricity until the remarkable epic poem about the few contemporary SVG residents early 1990s. But over the last 15 Black Caribs of St. Vincent, written whose lives, he thinks, reflect years, massive foreign investment between 1878 and 1895, would this tension between order and has turned Canouan into a high- have been interesting.) disorder. One is Junior Cottle, end resort island. As Nanton puts Nanton considers how SVG has been SVG’s marijuana pioneer, a it, in just a few years Canouan represented by outsiders: a journal “contemporary frontiersman”. A has moved from being a remote, kept by a Scottish magistrate who former convicted criminal, ganja neglected frontier, in the traditional worked there in the 1830s; and farmer, businessman, lobbyist sense (periphery of a periphery), Bodily Harm, the little-known novel for the legalisation of the weed to a state of “frontier exclusivity by the famous Canadian writer, and liaison between growers and and exoticism”. Private developers Margaret Atwood, that is set in St. government agencies, for Nanton, are permitted, indeed encouraged, Vincent. He also explores how SVG is Cottle exemplifies a man who “to exploit the notion of the exotic represented by insiders: a novel by moves freely over the “frontier” frontier”; “wild nature” is made G. C. H. Thomas, Ruler in Hiroona: between the legal and official, and into a carefully managed commodity A West Indian Novel, which is a the illegal and “wild”. for wealthy visitors. fictionalised biography of Ebenezer For Nanton, SVG’s Spiritual Baptists, One of Nanton’s many hats is that Joshua, SVG’s labour leader and also known as “Shakers”, are an of the literary scholar, and for him, independence-era politician; and indigenous group which has crossed it is just as important to probe the two published memoirs by James the frontier in recent years. In SVG of the imagination (literature, Mitchell and Ralph Gonsalves, a colonial times, they were seen as the arts) as it is to probe the “real” former and the current prime “wild”, uncivilised, too “African”, country (history, geography, the minister of the nation respectively. lower-class, rural, hard to control social sciences). Chapter 5, “Writing – hence the 1912 Prohibition the St Vincent Frontier”, examines Ordinance, the model for the one an eclectic mix of writings, journals, passed in Trinidad and Tobago novels and memoirs. (Sadly, a few years later. But after the Désha Osborne’s edition 1960s, the sect gradually won of H. N. Huggins’ epic wide acceptance, membership poem, Hiroona: An increased, and Spiritual Baptists Historical Romance entered mainstream SVG society. in Poetic Form, They came to “town”, they crossed the frontier, while retaining their unique forms of belief and worship which had been seen as “uncivilised”. Another theme is what has happened to some of the Grenadines – SVG has 32 islands, many uninhabited. In the recent past, these little, neglected islands were a true “frontier”; the people were left to their own devices,

68 CHILL NEWS PUBLICATIONS

Though these two politicians were, and are, very of writing and seeing, Frontiers of the Caribbean is different personalities with very different political a multidisciplinary study that incorporates both the ideologies, Nanton makes the case that the rhetoric of “real” and the “imagined” worlds of SVG. Through their self-representation has much in common: each is his use of the frontier concept, Nanton moves beyond self-constructed as a twentieth-century frontiersman of nationalist island studies and complicates conventional SVG, a grand pioneer, a charismatic hero, struggling to postcolonial theory, which tends to interpret everything implement his version of “civilisation” against the forces happening in former colonies as part of a dialogue with of wildness, opposition and disorder; each is the all- the former metropolitan power. As he concludes: “A powerful champion of a small state against the Goliaths frontier perspective that alters and enlarges the frame of the world. of analysis to include history, literature and culture Nanton’s interesting and often provocative book extends the ground of the debate and increases the provides new ways of thinking about the Caribbean, visibility of otherwise relatively insignificant island and about how a microstate like SVG can be a metaphor states.” t for globalisation itself. By combining different genres

"Coping with Campus Life" continued from page 66

Payne's conversational tone and honesty about Carol Pitt of Caribbean Chapters Publishing for their his emotional state, balancing of friendships and assistance throughout the writing, drafting, designing student/ hall annoyances are relatable and, at times, and publishing process. humorous. Survive, Thrive and Stay Alive in College: A Matter of Perspective is not only a story of a maturing, young adult, but a blueprint of emotional competence for university life and life beyond campus. For the new student making the rite of passage from secondary school to tertiary education, this book is an easy read as it sheds light on the life of university, its freedoms, hardships, opportunities to succeed and to grow into a productive and socially well-adjusted human being. Payne describes his book, a two-year project, as compact and succinct, saying it does not promote cultural ideologies or require extensive reading, and asserts that many students do not have the time to "When you are doing something for yourself, you feel read large texts. Describing it as “the ultimate college so empowered. If something [troubling] is happening in survival guide”, he says it does not tell people what to your life [and] you have something that you can drift do; but it examines the benefits and opportunities of into ... it becomes fun," said the young author, who tertiary education which can enhance their personal has always loved books, and speaks passionately of a and professional lives. youthful diet of literature featuring the Hardy Boys, Payne believes a student’s university experience Nancy Drew, Archie comics and children’s author, Enid should be enjoyable and explained his personal Blyton. adaptation, while being in Trinidad, to culinary differences, social customs, campus diversity, and Since publishing, Payne has been dedicated to giving public safety challenges when travelling throughout back and has donated a few copies of the book, which the country. is available in e-copy on Amazon.com, to secondary Payne used the framework of his final-year thesis school students. t to design his book, commending John Goddard and

CHILL NEWS 69 IN FOCUS

The Barbados-based Chronic Disease Research Centre, a leading agency in the fight against chronic diseases, was renamed in honour of prominent health official and academic, Professor Emeritus Sir George Alleyne, the immediate past Chancellor of The University of the West Indies. Sir George demitted office in July 2016 on completion of his second consecutive seven- year term. A Lasting Tribute to Sir George Principal Eudine Barriteau, Director of CDRC Professor Alafia Samuels, Lady Sylvan Alleyne, Sir George Alleyne and Minister of Health, John Boyce

t the renaming ceremony, Barbados’s Minister of AHealth, John Boyce, and Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Professor Eudine Barriteau, praised the former director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) for his yeoman service to The UWI, the region and the international community.

“He is thoroughly deserving of our Sir George Alleyne - UWI Chancellor Emeritus highest accolades and recognition. Sir George has given magnanimous public service and continues to those in the academy who see with which to grant our revered do so to this day,” said Professor research as the determining feature Chancellor, than to link his name Barriteau, lauding his sterling which separates universities from in perpetuity to our foremost, contribution to public health and other tertiary level institutions. internationally acclaimed medical medicine. “Research can improve Caribbean research unit. From today on, this will be known as the George “Sir George has been a consummate people’s lives, accelerate regional Alleyne Chronic Disease Research academic who believes resolutely development and ought to be an Centre.” that research should drive policy integral part of any university’s development in healthcare. His existence. At The UWI, research The Minister of Health praised views on the value and significance constitutes part of our core the work of the centre which of research are not only aligned mandate. Indeed, I can think of no celebrated its 25th anniversary with, but are in the vanguard of more enduring form of recognition last year. He noted that it has

70 CHILL NEWS IN FOCUS been an invaluable partner for his ministry in conducting health research in Barbados, and for the country’s success in tackling non- communicable diseases. The renaming “recognises Sir George’s legacy and will ensure that his name is associated with an institution that seeks to embody the scholarship in and dedication to medicine and public health which he has demonstrated throughout Part of the audience in attendance at the renaming ceremony. his life,” Boyce said. The university also held a gala dinner in Sir George’s honour “For the past thirteen and Speaking at the gala event, in which his family and friends a half years, I have been Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir gathered at Cave Hill to celebrate Chancellor and ever conscious Hilary Beckles described the his career as Chancellor of The of the responsibility that came outgoing Chancellor as a model of UWI. Current and former colleagues with following in the footsteps commitment and caring. from The UWI paid glowing of persons of eminence and tribute to the physician, scholar, “He has given of his best … It distinction. There was a princess research scientist, orator, regional does not take cash to care, it of royal blood followed by three ambassador and progressive public takes consciousness. Sir George is eminent West Indian lawyers, health leader. driven by this value - care for The different in style perhaps, but University of the West Indies that In response to the tributes, Sir all displaying the deep and fierce cared for him, a lesson in loyalty George credited The UWI with concern for the well-being of to be admired and celebrated. This shaping his keen sense of being the institution as a whole, and caring at times called for caution West Indian. He said the institution absolutely committed to upholding and, other times, for creativity; but enabled him to fulfill “the canons and enhancing its reputation. I in all circumstances, it called for of proper socialisation” and have been privileged to witness commitment. This will be, in my he described The UWI as “an the remarkable growth of the judgment, his legacy.” t inextricable part of my identity university and the addition of the which I carry throughout my life”. Open Campus.”

Throughout his accomplished career, Sir George has received numerous awards including prestigious decorations and national honours from many countries of the Americas. In 1990, he was made Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to medicine, and in 2001, he was awarded the Order of the Caribbean Sir George Alleyne greets Community, the highest honour that Minister of Health John Boyce. can be conferred on a Caribbean Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles presents a farewell gift to Sir George Alleyne. national.

CHILL NEWS 71 IN FOCUS

an annual policy forum, as well as provide extensive technical support for CSOs throughout the region.

THE UNIVERSITY The four-year project will be managed in OF THE WEST INDIES collaboration with the Barbados Council CAVE HILL CAMPUS, BARBADOS for the Disabled and the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) in St. Lucia. The IGDS:NBU was one of six awardees at the (l-r) Head, Unit, Institute for Gender and Development Studies (NBU/IDGS), Dr. Letnie Rock; UWI Human Rights & Civil Society Grants lecturer, Dr. Halimah Deshong; EU Head of Delegation to Barbados, Ambassador Daniela Tramacere; UWI Award Ceremony held in February 2018 at lecturer, Dr. Tonya Haynes; UWI lecturer, Sonia Mahon; board member Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), Rene Holder and board member ECADE, Maria Fontenelle. the Grande Salle, Central Bank of Barbados. For the past three years, the EU has supported the efforts of civil society and Livity Project human rights organisations in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States through Receives EU Grant grants targeted at: increasing employment opportunities for disabled persons and at- he Institute for Gender and The grant which was awarded by the European Union (EU), following the risk youth; providing vocational training; Development Studies: Nita submission of proposals, will support the supporting the fight against domestic Barrow Unit (IGDS:NBU) has been T initiative entitled “The Livity Project: violence; enhancing sustainable livelihoods awarded a €400,000 grant to assist with Supporting Eastern Caribbean through climate-smart agriculture; and coalition-building exercises and projects Civil Society Organisations for protecting marine biodiversity, among other aimed at strengthening Civil Society Social Change”, and will facilitate the areas. t Organisations (CSOs). development of a leadership academy and Student Research Flourishes Postgraduate students are helping to “Within that 30 percent of graduate Acknowledging the steep competition for maintain a vibrant research culture students, once we get there, our goal is academic scholarships, Professor Barriteau BECOME A MENTOR OR OFFER AN INTERNSHIP TODAY at Cave Hill as the campus continues to have 30 percent of those in research said "Cave Hill believes in investing in its to make strides towards becoming a degrees. So, the aim is for 30 percent as students," whom she suggested represent research-oriented institution. graduates, and along with that, 30 percent some of the Caribbean’s best assets. in research. This year, Cave Hill had 28 The UWI Cave Hill Campus is looking for… According to Pro Vice-Chancellor, She also pointed to the importance of percent (of postgrads among the total Graduate Studies and Research, pursuing quality research, noting that a number of graduates),” he said. Professor Dale Webber, the Class of 2017 sound culture of research was what set Mentors showed that Cave Hill had the highest Professor Webber made the disclosure universities apart from tertiary level colleges. ratio of graduate students among The while addressing a breakfast ceremony “All of you are carving an area that’s not Alumni and partners to volunteer and provide career-related information to University of the West Indies' campuses, held last November for the postgraduate been pursued and producing knowledge currently enrolled students. a significant number of whom had scholarship awardees for 2017-2018, that would benefit Caribbean societies undertaken original research work during where four students received UWI and, in fact, what you do in your various their studies. postgraduate scholarships, while 11 studies would underscore and strengthen Internships received postgraduate, fee-waiver the reputation, image, credibility and viability Based on graduate degrees scholarships. of The University of the West Indies,” she Several Cave Hill students are seeking to supplement their classroom awarded, Cave Hill was He noted that despite a fall in enrolment said in brief words of encouragement to the within striking distance of the numbers at Cave Hill, the university has awardees. learning with practical experiences. targeted range of 30 percent maintained the number of scholarships The Principal urged them to ensure their of its overall graduates being awarded to its students, a research was new and different and, on Internship opportunities can be crafted to satisfy your organisation’s needs. comprising students who development that Principal and Pro Vice- successful completion of their area of study, Chancellor Professor Eudine Barriteau received postgraduate awards to give back to the society. t and degrees. found pleasing. Contact the Office of Student Services for more information:

72 CHILL NEWS Email:[email protected] Phone: 417-4168 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES CAVE HILL CAMPUS, BARBADOS

BECOME A MENTOR OR OFFER AN INTERNSHIP TODAY

The UWI Cave Hill Campus is looking for…

Mentors Alumni and partners to volunteer and provide career-related information to currently enrolled students.

Internships Several Cave Hill students are seeking to supplement their classroom learning with practical experiences.

Internship opportunities can be crafted to satisfy your organisation’s needs.

Contact the Office of Student Services for more information: Email:[email protected] Phone: 417-4168